Rapport Stage British Council

Ever since its early years, H.E.M – Institute for Advanced Management Studies – has

set its mind on one major goal: preparing its students to be tomorrow’s qualified managers.

For that purpose H.E.M has adopted a curriculum that provides Moroccan students with

cohesive learning programs which meet with the ever growing challenges and needs of the

job market.

One of the important attributes of a successful manager is mastering English

in every aspect of the language. Therefore, as second year students on the undergraduate

program, H.E.M granted us the opportunity to undergo a six week English language

improvement training. The training was to take place either in London, Malta or the British

Council in Rabat. The main objectives of the training are as follows:

• Help the students develop their written and spoken English language skills;

• Significantly improve the students pronunciation so that they can be understood

better by both native speakers and non-native speakers of the English language;

• Assist students in building language confidence and awareness while using English

for specific purposes especially at a professional level (work environment);

• Acquire business English vocabulary and learn its precise use.

The British Council in Rabat was my first choice because I was aware of its

Quality language teaching and expertise. The reputation of the British educational

tradition is due in part to the fame and academic excellence of institutions such as

Oxford, Cambridge and the British Council. So, I felt the need to be part of such an

educational system that is focused on processes and outcomes. In other words, I wanted

to have a training that specifies the "outcomes" students should be able

to demonstrate upon finishing the study program.

The following report about my training experience with the British Council will

be divided to four major parts. In the first part, I will give a detailed presentation of the

host institution followed by a brief description of the organization and progress of the

courses. Subsequently, in the second part, I will mention my choice of project and the

methodology we have adopted in my group along with the institutional support we

were provided with from our instructors. As for the third part of the report, I will list and

describe the different conferences, site visits and cultural activities we made. Lastly, in

chapter four, I shall provide an assessment of the overall experience and its contribution

to my personal development.

CHAPTER ONE:

A°/ Presentation of the British Council:

The British Council is an autonomous non-governmental organization based in

the United Kingdom which specializes in international educational and cultural

opportunities. It is a non-departmental public body, a public corporation incorporated by

royal charter, and is registered as a charity in England.

Founded in 1934, it was granted a royal charter by King George VI in 1940. Its

'sponsoring department' within the United Kingdom Government is the Foreign and

Commonwealth office, although it has day-to-day operational independence. Martin

Davidson is its chief executive, appointed in April 2007.

The British Council aspires to build mutually beneficial cultural and

educational relationships between the United Kingdom and other countries, and increase

appreciation of the United Kingdom’s creative ideas and achievements. Its overseas

network extends to 233 locations in 107 countries and territories. It has headquarters in

Spring Gardens, near Whitehall in Central London, and in Manchester. There are other

branch offices in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Of its total income of £551m in 2006/07, the British Council received £195m of

grants from the British government. The rest was earned through charging for teaching

English to individuals and organizations, examinations and commercial consultancy —

often acting as a managing agent for UK Government departments, which it lobbies

assiduously for business and from which it has received tender waivers. Its main areas

of activity are 'Learning/Teaching, the Arts, Science and Society'. It has closed many of

the overseas British Council libraries which used to be the valued public face of The

British Council.

B°/British Council

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