Welcome and thank you for your visit.
Whether you are a regular visitor or are contacting the British Council for the first time, I would like to say thanks for reaching out and to take this opportunity to tell you what we are doing and, more importantly, why we are doing it.
Our work in arts, culture, education, and English generates international opportunities for millions of people each year.
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. Through our programmes we support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and those in countries worldwide. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in more than 100 countries.
Our work in Spain began in 1940 when musician, writer and communicator Walter Starkie founded Spain’s first British Council centre in Madrid. Every year since then we have worked with thousands of English teachers and students, cultural organisations and artists, educational institutions, academics and regional and state governments.
I would also like to take this opportunity to highlight the paradigm shift that is taking place in English globally. According to our research paper, The Future of English: Global Perspectives, in today's reality - where multilingualism is the norm in most contexts - English is no longer seen as a foreign language, but rather as a necessary everyday communication tool.
In today’s exciting paradigm-shift context, we are working to help thousands of people in Spain broaden their horizons and find their place in this multilingual and multicultural world.
That is why we are encouraging you to find out about our educational and cultural events and our other activities in Spain. Because it is through the experience and history of people like you that our daily work in Spain takes on its full meaning.
I hope you will be able to join us.
Sylvia Edvinsson