Many parents have dreams to send their children abroad for higher studies. Among all the other countries, UK is known to have one of the best educational standards.
In 2018, Oxford University ranked the first and Cambridge University the second according to Times Higher Education (THE) world rankings. Seven out of 50 top universities are from the UK. For this reason, parents have high preferences for sending their kids to the UK for higher studies. Moreover, it will provide a much better edge if the students can attend the school in the UK which is a positive factor for getting admitted to a UK university later.
British Council Bangladesh has been facilitating the Summer School Programme of Oxford International Education Group of UK. The programme is locally managed by the British Council's trained education consultancy agency-- Education Excellence. Through this programme, school students get the opportunity to visit universities like Oxford and Cambridge. They also get the opportunity to see the famous cricket stadiums: Lords and Oval. In addition, they also get the chance to participate in the master class of cricket and many other activities.
This year, 29 school students were chosen for the summer school programme to visit the UK and to learn about their education and lifestyle. University of the West of Scotland joined Oxford International Education Group and Education Excellence to arrange this summer programme for the students. Among the participants of the summer school programme, 12 were from Oxford International School, 15 students were from Sunshine Grammar School, and two students joined privately. The students were divided into two groups. The first group stayed there from July 15 to 28, 2018, and the other stayed there from August 05 to 23, 2018. Both groups participated in different competitions.
British Council organised a pre-departure briefing for the students participating in the programme where guidelines were provided to them. Some of them are: things to do before leaving the country, preparations for the journey, things to carry and not to carry during the journey, weather information and required clothing, ways to contact the police in case of an emergency, health and safety information, and the list of important UK websites.
After returning to Bangladesh, British Council awarded the participants with certificates. In future, these certificates will help the students get admitted to universities in the UK. This programme usually takes place from June to August. However, from the next year, the programme will be designed for the whole year. The programme name will be 'Study UK Exposure Trip' because the scope will not be limited to summer only.
sarah.habib@bd.britishcouncil.org