To celebrate its 75th anniversary in Hong Kong, the British Council held a reception at its headquarter on 28 March (Tuesday), where more than 160 partners and guests joined Ms. Susannah Morley, Director of British Council Hong Kong and Mr. Brian Davidson CMG, the British Consul General to Hong Kong and Non-Resident Consul General to Macao, to look back on the organisation’s role and achievements in Hong Kong. The British Council also launched Alumni UK, a new digital platform that connects alumni of UK universities around the world.
Promoting the language, art, culture and education of UK
Since its establishment in Hong Kong in 1948, the British Council has dedicated itself to promoting knowledge, understanding and trust between the people of Hong Kong and the UK through the Arts, Education and the English language. It has supported generations of young people in Hong Kong to access the education and skills they need to succeed.
Ms. Susannah Morley, Director of the British Council Hong Kong, reflecting on the organisation’s key milestones said , “We opened our first library in 1949 and it was the first free lending library in Hong Kong. By 1982, the library received an average of 850 visitors a day – which works out at over 300,000 visitors a year.
“One of the things the British Council is best known for is teaching English, which has helped unlock educational and career opportunities for many people in Hong Kong. We opened our first English Teaching Centre in 1976 and by the mid-1980s, we were teaching more than 20,000 young people a year. Over the past 47 years, I estimate that we have taught English to getting on for three quarters of a million people. To this day,providing quality English teaching and assessment opportunities remains a core part of what we do.”
“Throughout our 75 years, we have contributed to the arts and cultural life of the territory by supporting tours of major UK artists and cultural institutions and supporting artistic exchanges. In 1979, with the support of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, we helped establish the Chung Ying Theatre Company, which today is an integral part of the cultural fabric of the city.”
As Hong Kong and the rest of the world recovers from the impact of the global pandemic, the British Council looks forward to working with partners and stakeholders to continue the work of offering opportunities through English, Education and the Arts and to continue the work of building trust and understanding between the people of Hong Kong and the UK.
Building connection with the new Alumni UK network
To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the British Council also announced the official launch of Alumni UK, a new global network to connect graduates of UK universities with their peers around the world and through which the British Council plans to offer professional development and job opportunities which will support their career progression. To learn more about Alumni UK: https://alumniuk.britishcouncil.org/
“It is fitting that we should be celebrating our 75th anniversary with the launch of Alumni UK because, ever since the first British Council representative in Hong Kong arrived in 1948, providing educational opportunities has been a core element of our work,” said Susannah Morley, Director of the British Council in Hong Kong. “Alumni UK has the potential to become a powerful international network for current and future leaders across all industry sectors, as well as keeping them connected with the UK,” she added.
The UK continues to be the number one choice for Hong Kong Students
The UK has long been the most popular English-speaking destination for Hong Kong students. According to the latest data from the Higher Education Statics Agency (HESA), 2021/22 saw an annual increase of 5.9% in total enrolments of students from Hong Kong, and as of January 2023, 5,680 Hong Kong residents had applied to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) , surpassing the pre-Covid 2018/19 level of 5,100 applicants. The trend is a testament to the enduring appeal of the UK education system to Hong Kong students and parents.
Hong Kong is set to remain as the largest sender of overseas students to UK independent schools. According to the Annual Census Report from the Independent Schools Council, there were 5,845 Hong Kong students in British boarding schools in 2022, making it a 6.9% increase compared with the figure of 5,466 in 2021. It is expected that the demand will stay strong over the next few years.
Supporting local community development through art projects
Promoting and providing access to Arts and culture has always been an integral part of British Council’s work. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Re-stART programme, which stands for Re-connecting and Re-skilling Societies Through the Arts, provided an opportunitiy for marginalised young people to engage with an artform – film making – and with guidance from mentors to create their own original short films. Delivered almost entirely online during the pandemic, Re-stART enabled participants to learn practical film-making skills as well as learning about story-telling and narrative and how to work as part of a team.
The SPARK festival of ideas, is a platform for people and institutions across the arts, science and education, to co-create and collaborate. The first SPARK, which was held at Tai Kwin in 2019, explored the meaning and importance of creativity and attracted over 40,000 visitors. SPARK 2021 was an entirely online event which explored inclusion.
Through innovative thinking and digital experiences, SPARK provides an opportunity to create partnerships and connections between Hong Kong and the UK that endure beyond the festival and into the future. The next edition of SPARK will be held in 2024.