British Council, a Collaborative Environment

The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Its aim is to bring together all areas of the British Council under an integrated country offer for customers and partners.

The history of the British Council dates back 92 years. As to how successful the organization has been over these nine decades in promoting English language education and that of British culture, Country Director of the British Council in Hungary, Georgina Szilágyi tells Diplomacy&Trade that “our objective is still to help young people to gain the skills and confidence and the connections that they are looking for to realize their potential and participate in strong and inclusive communities and we support them to learn English via our English teaching and to get high quality education and gain internationally recognized qualifications via our exams.”

Important areas of human connection
She adds that now, as in 1934, British Council teams around the world are supporting peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. “We do this by engaging with the most important areas of human connection: arts and culture, education and the English language, supported by our unique strengths.”
The world is more fractious, polarized and dangerous than it has been for some time. One in seven people experienced conflict in the last year. There is a clash of values and disagreement on how the world should be governed, and people should live. Disinformation is spreading, threatening democracy and the concept of truth. “These dynamics echo those that were present when we were founded 90 years ago. But today’s context is more complex, shaped by intense geopolitical competition, technological disruption and profound cultural shifts.”
As a result, expectations on organizations like the British Council are changing. Countries want partnership and locally-led solutions, and are not relying on traditional alliances. Cultural and education institutions want global recognition and deeper collaboration. English is still the global language, but learners want personalized experiences that help them connect and succeed. Young people around the world are digital first and are challenging the way things have traditionally been done, she explains.
In her work, she encourages a collaborative environment where open communication is valued, encourage teamwork across all our functions and creating a positive and thriving atmosphere. ”I think with the positive attitude and openness towards others, the willingness to listen and creating trust to improve the communication within the team. People we have reached have participated in activities like workshops, artist talks, hackathons, book clubs, film screenings.”

Not just in the capital
In cultural engagement, most of the British Council Hungary activities are based in Budapest. “However, in 2023, we took part in the Veszprém European Capital of Culture series of events where we had a literature night with EUNIC, which is an umbrella organization for cultural institutions in the European Union. We also had an exhibition in and around Veszprém, a residency arts project. Literature nights take place regularly in Debrecen as well and it is now being looked at expanding it to other regional cities. Working together with NGOs we had workshops for students in Szeged and Pécs on media literacy. These workshops are aimed at enhancing and developing skills like critical thinking and presentation skills, soft skills, so, basically all the skills that are out of the curriculum or the school system but are very important these days we try to engage university students – not necessarily just students from the one university with which we organize the event in partnership. So, we get participants coming from regional cities and towns. In exams, one of our aims is to make our exams more accessible to our candidates,“ Georgina Szilágyi highlights.

Language education
One issue that people definitely associate with the British Council is the English language education courses and exams. As for the specialty of the British council in this field compared to many other language schools and exam centers, Georgina Szilágyi believes that it is equality diversity and inclusions that the British Council caters for special needs, whether it's neurodiversity or any other disabilities that the candidates might have. “Nothing is impossible when it comes to teaching and assessment. Also, we don't just teach the language but we give the cultural element as well so our students can learn about UK culture and British values.”
In Hungary, the British Council has achieved about 15% growth over the past three years in the number of language exams taken. Last year, it launched the Advantage program, which supports and rewards institutions that prepare students for Cambridge English Qualifications exams, and this year, a similar program, the ‘IELTS Partnerships Program’ was launched for teachers and institutions that prepare students for the IELTS exam. The end of 2024 saw the introduction of ‘Aptis ESOL’ to the Hungarian market, an innovative English language exam developed entirely by the British Council.
The goal is to “make the language exams we offer more accessible to test takers, so in addition to our Budapest center, we want to make them more accessible nationwide by involving partners in other parts of the country,” she adds.
The Country Director stresses that “as well as building and promoting cultural links between our countries, our organization has been involved in language teaching and testing for over 90 years, contributing to social mobility around the world. In all walks of life whether in business, academia, science, or travel, the ability to speak and understand English opens doors to opportunity. It helps young people access higher education, work internationally and engage confidently in our interconnected world.”

Partners and programs
The British Council has several partners to work with in Hungary in achieving its goals. These include universities and other higher education institutes, NGOs and cultural institutions. Also among them is the Ministry of Interior on a teacher training project, running for over 20 years now, for public school English teachers.
Highlighting partnerships from previous years, the Country Director recalls last September when they partnered with the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest on the William Blake exhibition ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’, which was a huge success with many more visitor numbers than originally anticipated by the museum. “This January, we had a literary event where contemporary Hungarian poets were asked to translate or retranslate William Blake's poems. 2026 will be the second year that we organize the British Film Days together with the Budapest International Film Festival. The one we had last year was the first one organized after 18 years. We are trying to screen films that are right along our values.”