The Foreign affairs committee report and education

Abstract

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report on the Commonwealth was valuable in its overview of Commonwealth institutions and programmes, its value to Britain and other members, and the shift to a more polycentric association of equals. Education was one of the central concerns of submissions to the Committee which called on the Government to give renewed attention to educational and cultural exchanges. But it fails to recommend additional resources for existing programmes which are starved of money and does not address properly the decline of bilateral aid. In its discussion of the main conduits for education in the Commonwealth the Report does less than justice to the existing infrastructure and other activities, devoting just ten out of its 60 pages to cultural relations and the role on non‐governmental organizations. The Commonwealth Secretariat's role as a broker between the education systems of the Commonwealth is largely ignored. A number of suggestions are made to raise the profile of the Commonwealth in education, including a Study Abroad programme for British students who would spend a term or more in a university in another member state, with a multilateral scheme along the lines of Erasmus in the European Union as the ultimate goal.