The strategy is co-owned by the Department for Education, the Department for Business and Trade, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and has been developed in close collaboration with the education sector across the UK and the devolved governments.
The strategy sets out the government’s plans to place the UK’s world-class education system, from early years to schools, colleges and higher education, at the heart of the UK’s global engagement, with recognition that partnerships such as UNESCO are critical to this mission.
The strategy is built around three core ambitions: increase the UK’s international standing through education; sustainably recruit high-quality international higher education students from a diverse range of countries, and collectively grow education exports to £40 billion per year by 2030.
From a UNESCO perspective, highlights include:
- An emphasis on mutually beneficial international partnerships and leadership to build global stability. This will include multilateral partners such as the World Bank and UNICEF as well as UNESCO.
- A commitment to Women and Girls education through harnessing UK diplomatic levers to promote the right to education for women and girls globally, a core tenet of UNESCO's Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4).
- Expansion of Transnational Education (TNE) to grow UK education provision overseas. This supports UNESCO's mission of widening access to high-quality education for students who cannot travel abroad, effectively bringing "world-class education to their doorstep".
