British Council partnership to reward online learners
Free certificates for first 10,000
The British Council is partnering with FutureLearn, the UK’s social learning platform to offer free Certificates of Achievement for eligible students completing online courses from UK universities on the FutureLearn platform.
As part of the Study UK campaign, the partnership will give people in more than 35 ODA countries the chance to celebrate their learning with a free Certificate of Achievement – open to the first 10,000 eligible learners. (Full list of eligible ODA countries can be found below).
Learners must start an eligible course before the end of March 2017 and complete the course to a satisfactory standard for the chance to earn a free certificate.
From courses such as Social Enterprise: Turning ideas into Action from Middlesex University Business School to Understanding Public Financial Management: How Is Your Money Spent? From SOAS University of London, Learners can choose from a range of over 150 courses on our Study UK webpage now.
The British Council said “UK higher education is a proven pathway to a better life and enhanced career prospects. We hope that the wide-ranging choice of online courses and the free Certificate of Achievement will encourage people to try a free online course from a UK Institution.
Simon Nelson, Futurelearn CEO said “At FutureLearn, we truly believe that education can change people’s lives and we’re dedicated to widening access to it on a global scale so we’re proud to be part of this British Council campaign to drive open access to education to the furthest corners of the world.
Simon continued, “Britain has always been a leader in global education and for our UK university partners, this Study UK campaign offers a fantastic opportunity for their courses to be promoted to huge markets such as China, India and Malaysia, as well as places as far afield as Ethiopia, Tanzania and Yemen. We believe the project will significantly extend the reach of education into new territories.
Who is eligible?
To be eligible for the free certificates learners must reside in the listed ODA countries while taking online courses that start from 2nd January – 31st March, 2017. The eligible courses are from United Kingdom Higher Education Institutions only.
To gain a certificate, the courses must be completed to a satisfactory standard – 90% steps completed and all a 70% or above test mark, where applicable.
All available courses can be seen via our dedicated website page – /study-uk
A learner can earn more than one certificate during the campaign period, however we will encourage Learners to share the offer around so their friends can benefit too.
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UK’s cultural resources we make a positive contribution to the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications.
Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. The majority of our income is raised delivering a range of projects and contracts in English teaching and examinations, education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. Eighteen per cent of our funding is received from the UK government.
Full List of ODA countries eligible for free Certificates of Achievement:
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Congo (Dem. Rep.), Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malaysia, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
About FutureLearn
“Pioneering the best social learning experiences for everyone anywhere”
Founded by The Open University in 2012, FutureLearn is a social learning platform, designed to support learning through conversation. It offers 5.2 million learners free online courses from world-leading UK and international universities, centres of research excellence and specialist education providers like the British Council, Creative Skillset and European Space Agency. FutureLearn is an international platform with over 75% of its users based outside of the UK.
For more information, please contact:
Niamh O’Grady, Senior Communications Manager, FutureLearn
Email: niamh.ogrady@futurelearn.com
Rachel MacPherson, PR Executive, FutureLearn
Email: rachel.macpherson@futurelearn.com
