The British Council is committed to take a structured approached towards its alumni activities The British Council aims to create and lead a UK-wide Alumni network, enhancing our relationships with people all around the world and keeping them connected to the UK. The British Council is building a global network of alumni from UK universities to increase UK influence and strengthen evidence of the impact of UK engagement on individuals and their societies. In UUKI’s ‘International Graduate Outcomes 2019’ report (https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/igo), 77% of UK graduates say they are more likely to do business with UK; more than 80% would recommend studying in UK; and more 81% intend to build professional links with organisations in the UK. Consequently, the UK government is considering how best to foster life-long engagement of alumni with the UK, with all the mutual benefits that can bring to national prosperity.

The British Council in India have been in close connections with various alumni networks and associations both at organisational and individual levels. We involved alumni in our programmes and have also participated in activities initiated by alumni. Through the challenges of the last year, it has become important for alumni to continue to have a competitive edge in professional world. Entrepreneurship is at the forefront of this, and we want to support UK alumni who are entrepreneurs with more and continuous learning opportunities from the UK.

This programme is in it’s pilot phase and will help to upskill UK Alumni who are existing entrepreneurs. The aim is to support and enable them with the right skills to give them more confidence and make them true ambassadors of UK education. This initiative will create new opportunities for alumni and UK higher education providers.

UK Alumni Entrepreneurs/Leaders Training Programme

The UK Alumni Entrepreneurs Training programme is for UK alumni who are currently entrepreneurs and business leaders. The programme aims to upskill them & their team to develop their startup or company. Through this programme the alumni will be trained to provide better guidance, vision and can help their team to excel, leading to overall development of their company.

The programme will offer 2-4 short-term courses which would allow them to learn a new skill and enhance their professional and entrepreneurial opportunities. This will allow UK education providers to re-connect with alumni networks.

The objective behind this program is:

• provide opportunity to alumni to build their entrepreneurial and professional skills
• build capacity of UK alumni while sharing entrepreneurial development information and opportunities connected to the UK.
• establish and re- establish connections and foster a long-term relationship between the UK alumni and the UK
• Extend the opportunity to the alumni’s professional teams and empower them with a UK training

Short term course topics:

• Business Analytics
• Financial Management
• Data Visualisation
• Digital Marketing
• Communication for Development
• Any other suggested topic beneficial for an entrepreneur and their organisation, that you would like us to consider.

Duration and Delivery Modes

• Trainer led Online programme

• Length: A trainer led programme for 4-6 weeks on weekends
• Time: 6:30-8:30 PM IST (approx. 2:00-4:00 pm UK time)
• Modules: Designed and delivered by the UK HEI on university online portal
• Expected months: January - March  2022.
• Certification: Candidates should be provided co-branded E-certificates upon successful completion of the course.
• For every course cohort minimum requirement to train is upto 30 participants on virtual platform.
• Mentor 3-5 participants from each cohort for maximum of 3 months to ensure they can implement learning in workplace.
• Maximum of 12 hours over 3 months  of the mentorship with the respective alumni. Distribution of the 12 hours can be agreed with the alumni during the training.

Expression of Interest (EOI) from UK higher education providers

UK HEI EOI should cover the following points:

• Your interest in this opportunity and why.
• Your previous experience, if any (aligned with what is being sought)
• List of topics you can deliver from the above suggested topics, highlighting experience of mentorship.
• Cost per course per cohort with certification of participation. Each cohort to have 30 participants.
• An outline of your methodology and approach on the topics you would deliver (you can share internet links to share images, sample materials etc. to support if needed).

Please note that the EOI should not exceed 5 pages.

Selection Criteria