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THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT UK EDUCATION

UK education and skills exports are worth more than £14bn each year

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The UK has the oldest educational publishing industry in the world

The UK is also regarded as an

international centre of excellence for corporate, executive, leadership and vocational training, a key priority for forward-thinking and ambitious companies and organisations. It offers a wealth of experience in working with overseas clients to devise courses tailored to their specifi c needs, with learning packages delivered in a wide variety of ways.

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE British-style academic teaching and qualifi cations are the gold standard in many countries around the world. UK universities are highly active internationally and have a global reputation for their excellent academic offer and the portability and recognition of UK qualifi cations in all fi elds.

Eighty per cent of UK higher education institutions are currently involved in delivering degree programmes overseas by establishing campuses abroad or through twinning and franchising, distance learning and joint degrees. The UK also leads in designing, constructing and managing educational facilities overseas and is renowned for its expertise in promoting and implementing green principles in education. Working closely with its partners,

UK Trade & Investment is committed to helping the UK education sector build on such credentials and expand in overseas markets. Opportunities abound globally, especially in developing economies in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “UK Trade & Investment has a strong

interest in ensuring that we continue to help the education sector to seize international opportunities,” concludes Parry. “Education exports not only represent signifi cant commercial opportunity, but also help to boost the UK’s global infl uence.” ■

44 | springboard | www.ukti.gov.uk A GREAT BETT

Held each January, BETT attracts more than 600 suppliers and 30,000 visitors from the global educational community. A success at last year’s event was London-based Whizz Education, whose Maths-Whizz product helps children to master the subject.

The company’s account manager, Liam Petit, says: “At the 2011 show, with guidance from UK Trade & Investment, we tailored our approach to welcome a greater number of international customers to learn how our product has benefi ted thousands of students in the UK, US and Middle East.

“We were subsequently invited to present Maths-Whizz to a number of international distributors and education ministries. As a direct result of BETT 2011, it has been converted into Russian and is being delivered to 100,000

students in Moscow.” bettshow.com

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The annual value of UK educational publishing exports is estimated to be some £749m

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In value terms, the UK’s educational books and journals exports are roughly equal to those of the US – a market fi ve times the size

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The UK has more than 160 universities and higher education (HE) institutions