25 June 2008 (Abu Dhabi, UAE): Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and the British Council have today (23 June 2008) awarded English language proficiency certificates to a group of 40 male Emirati students, marking the successful completion of an intensive period of English language training, designed to facilitate their transition into higher education and training. The British Council presented the awards as part of the ADEC foundation year programme for high school graduates. The awards were presented at the British Council offices in Abu Dhabi by Ahmed Al Shamsi, Community Relations Manager ADEC; Marilyn Mathieson of ELS (the programme monitoring agency); and Paul Sellers, Director UAE for the British Council.    

The training programme was one of the largest partnership teaching activities undertaken in the UAE by the British Council. The training project began in October 2007, with the Emirati high school graduates involved in an intensive English Language Programme at the British Council in Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi.

The project involved 700 hours of teaching per student, with groups running simultaneously, 24 hours a week over eight months. 12 of the British Council's most experienced teachers were dedicated to the project in a variety of ways which involved English Language tuition, CEPA / IELTS preparation, and Life Skills Training, including ICT projects, team-building exercises and field trips to public venues such as exhibitions.

Ahmed Al Shamsi congratulated all the participants, and Marilyn Mathieson commented: "The Monitoring Agency commends the British Council on the excellent programme it has conducted, which has been designed to meet the specific needs of these young Emirati men."

The aim of the course was for students to reach an IELTS (International English Language Testing System) score of between 4.5 and 5.5, as well as improving on their previous CEPA (Common Educational Proficiency Assessment) scores, which all the students did dramatically in March 2008. Many students achieved high enough marks to begin their 2008-09 applications to local universities and colleges.

Paul Sellers, Director UAE for the British Council, said: "For the British Council, this programme is an excellent example of the benefits of working in local partnerships to create real benefits for young Emiratis; together, ADEC and the British Council have achieved the objective of helping these Emirati students improve their English language capabilities, which will significantly enhance their career prospects for the future." 

Sam Fenwick, who led the project for the British Council, added: "Due to the significant success of this project, we are able to guide the Emirati students to alternative pathways for the future, by working with organisations such as GTZ and ADVETI to offer them both academic and practical educational options."

"The training programme took place at our Khalidiya offices, which we will be leaving later this year," added Paul Sellers. "Our new operating model in Abu Dhabi, with a more compact office and multiple teaching sites, means that we will have far greater capacity and flexibility in the future to run more of these kinds of teaching programmes, working in local partnerships, for the benefit of more Emirati students. This is how we are shaping our organisation and operations to better suit the evolving needs of the community we serve in Abu Dhabi." 

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About The British Council
The British Council works in 110 countries worldwide to build relationships and understanding between the UK and other countries and to increase appreciation of the UK's ideas and achievements overseas. We do this through work in the arts, education and training, science and technology, sport, good governance and human rights. We are a non-political organisation, registered as a charity in the England and Scotland, which operates at arm's length from government. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org

In the UAE, the British Council has centres in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. We actively engage with the UAE community and the authorities through our work in education, English language teaching, professional development and teacher training programmes, and the administering of academic and professional examinations. We also help connect young people in the UAE with those in the UK via projects covering the Arts, education and science, in cooperation with local and UK organisations. The British Council has been present in Abu Dhabi since 1978. 

For more information please contact:
Jonathan Walsh
WPR
Tel: 050 4588610
Email: jon@wprme.com

Beibars Abdi
WPR
Tel: 050 570 5531
Email: beibars@wprme.com

© Press Release 2008