19th October 2018 Beirut, Lebanon
As Fayruz says….. bhebak ya lebnan. “Ahla wa sahla saadet el safir” said my welcoming team at the airport – “shoukran, please call me Chris, and do speak to me in Arabic” I said back. That was only 5 weeks ago – it seems much further back. Lebanon has a reputation for outstanding hospitality, stunning […]
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31st March 2017 Kolkata, India
The cross over point is arriving soon, at some point early in 2021. This is when India becomes the world’s most populous country, according to population projections produced by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, of the United Nations. As of 2015, those in the cohort aged 25-29 years in China were the last […]
16th January 2017 New Delhi, India
I attended a workshop on nano- bio materials for water purification in the picturesque district of Kottayam in Kerala. It was a Newton Bhabha funded researcher link workshop led by British Council in collaboration with Royal Society of Chemistry. Researcher links workshop is one of the many programs run under the ‘people’ pillar of the […]
21st January 2016 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
On Tuesday I enjoyed taking part in a university briefing evening at Jerudong International School (JIS). The event was aimed at school students about to start applying to universities. Last year, 58% of JIS students who went to university chose to study in the UK. So I was pleased but not surprised to see a […]
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3rd December 2014
‘I had already made the flight from Cluj to Bucharest on a number of occasions and it was rarely, if ever, a joyful occasion. The trip on 21st December 1989 was no exception as there was tension amongst the passengers, the airport staff and the flight crew. Even my Securitate-sponsored minder, technically a colleague in […]
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27th November 2014 New Delhi, India
Historically, India has always been a major exporter of international students, but these days the country is also becoming an attractive destination for overseas study. As one of the five swiftly developing BRICS countries (along with Brazil, Russia and China) India has begun to emerge as an advanced centre for modern commerce, research and innovation. […]
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13th November 2014
It was good to return this month to the university city of Iasi, my home over the summer during my Romanian immersion language training. The focus of the visit was to speak at two very different conferences. At the first, marking the 175th anniversary of the foundation of the Central University Library, I spoke about […]
12th November 2014 Budapest, Hungary
Guest blog by John Timberlake, exhibiting artist at the Turning Points exhibition opening on Friday, 14 November 2014 in the Hungarian National Gallery. Turning Points is a contemporary art project created together with British Council and other foreign cultural institutes operating in Hungary. Twenty-six artists from sixteen countries from Great Britain to Israel, from Spain […]
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17th October 2014
Cluj-Napoca was not a surprising choice for my first official visit outside Bucharest. And not just because it is Romania’s second city. The thriving British Business Group of Transylvania is testimony to the strength of the British business community, and I was delighted to meet up with its members at a local Indian restaurant. From […]
26th August 2014 New Delhi, India
A couple of weeks back I was lucky enough to be in London to enjoy some glorious English summer weather and, more importantly, participate in the second UK-India Science & Innovation Task Force meeting. Professor T K Chandrashekar, Secretary of India’s Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), led a high level Indian delegation to London for […]
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