About us

Who We Are

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural and educational relations. We define cultural relations as the building of trust and understanding between people of different cultures through the exchange of knowledge and ideas. Cultural relations contribute to international relations by developing people-to-people links and complement government-to-people and government-to-government contacts.

In the UK the British Council is registered as a charity (not-for-profit-organisation) and operates independently from the UK government, from which we receive a grant-in-aid.

Currently, we have offices in over 100 countries in six continents. Each year we work with millions of people around the world, connecting them with the United Kingdom, sharing our cultures and the UK’s most attractive assets: English, the Arts, Education and our ways of living and organising society. We have over 75 years’ experience of doing this.

Read more about the British Council history.

Our Aim

British Council connects people with learning opportunities and creative ideas from the UK and aims to build lasting relationships between the UK and Turkey.

We use English, Arts and Education– the best of the UK’s great cultural assets – to bring people together and build sustainable relationships between people and institutions in the UK and Turkey.

What do we do in Turkey?

The British Council has been working in Turkey continuously since 1940, bringing international opportunities to life, every day. We work through partnerships and digital platforms from our Ankara and Istanbul offices to reach people throughout Turkey.

We create new opportunities and possibilities for people in the UK and Turkey. We work with policymakers, public officials, academics, researchers, artists, sportspeople, scientists, curators, civil societies, creative entrepreneurs, head- and classroom teachers work through us develop policy, professional standards and participation in English, the Arts and Education. We connect with large numbers of aspiring young people by creating international opportunities for skills development and dialogue In addition to these we develop and participate in many different projects themed around education and the arts.

The British Council does not operate an English language course in Turkey. We work with Teachers Associations in Turkey, supporting their training and providing access to educational resources for its members. We also provide free English learning tools online; TeachEnglish, LearnEnglish, LearnEnglish Teens, LearnEnglish Kids and mobile applications for teachers and learners of English.

Higher education, skills for professional development, research and innovation, higher education and industry partnerships are the key areas in our education projects. We are not a higher education agent and we do not provide recruitment consultancy. On the other hand we offer the most widespread and valuable information online about studying and living in the UK. For more information please visit our EducationUK website.

We find new ways of connecting and seeing each other through the arts. We work with our partners, both in Turkey and in the UK, to showcase British excellence, innovation and creativity as well as introducing cultural assets of Turkey to the people in the UK through artists and art forms. We work for the benefit of the individual and for the mutual benefit of the UK and Turkey.

To find more about our latest works please visit our English, arts, education and news pages.

As the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural and educational relations we engage positively with people from a wide range of backgrounds. Respecting and understanding the richness of diversity is central to what we do and how we work.