Just over a fortnight ago saw the launch of the British Council China’s exciting new outward mobility campaign, Generation UK. The campaign aims to see at least 15,000 UK students going to China between now and 2016. “I cannot think of any model better than Generation UK”, the UK Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP, stated during his speech at the launch event on 11 June 2013, where he also announced the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) support for the campaign. British Council Chief Executive, Martin Davidson, and Minister Cong Pei Wu from the Chinese Embassy also spoke at the event, officially launching the campaign and highlighting the importance of encouraging more UK students to engage with opportunities in China.
The launch was attended by senior university representatives, representatives from industry with interests in China, and UK sector bodies. As well as officially launching the campaign, the launch event aimed to engage potential sponsors in a campaign to invest in the next generation of business people, entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists and professionals.
Following the officially launch, a series of practitioner workshops were ran across five cities, to further raise awareness of the campaign and encourage participation at an institutional level. Workshops in London, Cardiff, Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh saw information on Generation UK presented to careers, study abroad and international office staff who represented institutions across the nation.
Generation UK supports the UK government’s agenda by promoting outward student mobility to foster the competitiveness of the UK and to develop a new generation of globally mobile, culturally agile young people who can succeed and compete in an increasingly borderless marketplace. The campaign offers funded internship placements and scholarships for academic study for UK students to gain international experience in China and is also supported by the Department for Education and Learning, Northern Ireland.
Student facing workshops are scheduled to take place later this autumn. For more information about Generation UK, please visit: http://www.britishcouncil.org.cn/genuk. View the Generation UK video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2MTSHnctW0