Readers interested in the activities of the British Council in Azerbaijan will be aware that the bungling branch of the British FCO in Baku decided to actually do something for the first time in 20 years, spurred into action after witnessing Levant Education’s UK Education Tour last November. Invited to participate in the event in a spirit of mutuality, they approached the UK university exhibitors to tap them up for a rival event to be launched in 2013.
Reassuringly for Levant Education and the UK Education Tour (back in Baku next week), we again have a strong line up of UK universities, including UCL, Manchester, Warwick, Birmingham and Sheffield, who have a full programme of institution visits, an Alumni & VIP reception at the British Embassy, and UK exhibition and seminars.
The time has come for the British Council to promote their event, and collect registrations. Interestingly, data being requested from registering students includes ‘first language’, with the options being Chinese, English, Filipino, French, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.
All common first (or second) languages in Azerbaijan, bien sur! We’d have gone for Azeri or Russian, but what do we know?!
The ‘how did you hear about us’ answers also reveal that part of their marketing campaign includes advertising on ‘clickthecity.com’ – an out-and-about website for those out-and-about in … Manila, Philippines.
It’s always good to be reminded that the British Council isn’t really malicious, just incompetent. Or just maybe the power of the BC brand will work its magic, and exhibitors at their Azerbaijan event in November will be deluged by enquiries from Filipinos!
Filed under: Azerbaijan, British Council
