Facts of United Kingdom

Land & people

Area: 244,820 sq km
Population (July 2006 est.): 60.61 million
Capital: London
Languages: English and Welsh are the official languages. Scottish Gaelic is spoken in some parts of Scotland. Some other dialects and accents such as Geordie, Tyke, Scouse and Cockney also exist.
Per capita GDP (2006 est.): $31,400

The United Kingdom, consisting of Great Britain (England, Wales, and Scotland) and Northern Ireland, is twice the size of the New York state. Located in Western Europe between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, the UK’s only land border connecting it with another country is between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The UK and France are separated by the English Channel and linked by the Channel Tunnel or Chunnel.

The country’s landscape can be roughly divided into two kinds of terrain: highland and lowland. The highland area comprises the mountainous regions of Scotland, Northern Ireland, northern England and North Wales. The English Lake District in the northwest includes lakes and fells. The lowland area is uneven with sandstone and limestone hills, long valleys and basins such as the Wash on the east coast. In the southeast, the North and South Downs culminate in the White Cliffs of Dover. The coastline includes fjord-like inlets in the northwest of Scotland, cliffs and wild sandy beaches on the east coast and, further south, beaches of rock, shale and sand sometimes backed by dunes, and large areas of fenland in East Anglia.

Cash/credit cards

There are plenty of foreign exchange offices, banks, post offices and travel agents in the country offering currency exchange service. Traveler’s cheques are widely accepted and have good replacement policies. Some cash machines (ATMs) are internationally linked, allowing you to withdraw cash directly from your own personal account.

Any credit card that bears the Visa, MasterCard or American Express ‘badge’ is widely accepted in the UK. Visitors with other cards should ask in advance or see if that badge is on display where they wish to use it.

When to go

Though relatively small in size, the country experiences differing weather conditions from area to area that is liable to change from day to day.

Generally the period from April to early October is ideal to visit the country. May tends to be a good time when the weather is more settled and nature is in full swing.

UK education gives students an international perspective

The latest figures from the UK Higher Education
Statistics Agency (HESA) show that UK is a top choice for a superior education, as there has been a 15 per cent increase (2005-06 over 2004-05) in the number of students from the UAE studying in the UK at undergraduate or postgraduate level.

“There are currently more than 2,000 students from the UAE studying in the UK and this number continues to rise each year,” says Alison Devine, Deputy Country Director UAE at the British Council.

According to Sir Paul Judge, the key benefactor of the Judge Institute of Management at the University of Cambridge, the high standard of teaching and the international recognition that a degree from a UK business school gets, is the reason that students opt to study in the UK.

Business schools

“UK business schools are world-renowned and closely linked with commerce and industry. More management students are educated in the UK than in the rest of Europe put together,” he says.

A degree from the UK gives students an international perspective, says Aman Dham, who is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration at the University of Greenwich. “Education in the UK lays emphasis on presentation skills, research, reports, market report journals and online learning, which I might not have learnt if I went to college in Dubai,” he says.

Students who come to the UK from the UAE will notice a positive change in their attitude, says Dham.

“After coming to UK, I have seen a radical difference in my presentation skills, report writing and market research. The UAE education is not lacking in any way, but it will take time for it to attain international recognition which a graduate from the UK receives,” says Dham.

Boarding schools

Boarding schools for junior and high school students in UK are also drawing a number of students from the Middle East who want the advantage of an early grounding in the British system of education.

Consultancies such as Gabbitas offer guidance to students and parents in selecting a boarding or day school in the UK.
“For families living overseas, we offer a guardianship service that ensures the children have a host family based in the UK with whom they can go and stay during weekend and half-term breaks. We also support a child studying in the UK, with travel and pocket money matters, and recommend tactics, choice of course and timings of UCAS applications,” says John H. Gibson, Interim Head of Marketing, Gabbitas.

There are factors that a parent should keep in mind when choosing a boarding school. “Some of the larger schools might be overwhelming to certain students. It’s also important for students to look for schools that offer extra-curricular activities that will regularly challenge them outside of the classroom. If you like acting or playing the guitar or playing in a football or rugby team, then you must select a school that satisfies these needs. You are not just selecting a new school but a new home and a new family of friends,” says Graeme Neill, Director of Admissions, Bedstone College.

Neill says that some students from the Middle East study at Bedstone, however, it has never been more than 1.5 to two per cent of the total roll. “This figure is for locals of the region. Over the years we have taken many British students into boarding from expatriate families living and working in the Middle East,” he says.

International students

Alex O’Toole, Director of Marketing, Rossall School, says that students from the Middle East tend to be intelligent, gregarious, good at sports and make great boarders as they make friends easily and get involved in all aspects of school life.

“Our school is equipped to support international pupils. We have a study centre which offers anything from a term English language course to one or two-year GCSE course, and at sixth form we offer the International Baccalaureate, as well as A-Levels,” she says.

Fergus Livingstone, First Deputy Head, Rossall School, says that schools in the UK have a tradition of developing the ‘whole child’, encouraging a wide variety of sports, musical, dramatic and other cultural activities. “We are blessed that English has become the world’s leading language: the UK independent sector attracts children from all over the world, and UK schools are wonderfully international in their cultural and intellectual outlooks as a direct result,” he says.

London — city of learning

The Lord Mayor of the City of London visited the UAE recently to talk about London’s place in the financial services world and to highlight the fact that the city is a global centre of excellence for training and education in finance and finance-related services.

“The Lord Mayor of the City of London for the year commencing November 10, 2006, has chosen as his Mayoral theme, ‘City of London — City of Learning’,” says Devine of British Council. “This programme highlights city-related UK professional institutes, business schools and training providers who offer postgraduate and professional qualifications in financial, maritime and business services, both in the UK and overseas.”

Throughout 2007, the Mayor of London, Alderman John Stuttard, will promote the advantage of a business education, qualification and work experience that can be obtained through a British business training and professional qualification.

Building on success

On March 21, Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, presented a budget “for Britain’s families, for fairness, and for the future”.

This was Brown’s 11th budget and in his opening remarks he said: “My report to the country is of rising employment and rising investment; continuing low inflation, and low interest and mortgage rates; and this is a budget to expand prosperity and fairness for Britain’s families — and it is built on the foundation of the longest period of economic stability and sustained growth in our country’s history.”

In his pre-budget speech in the House of Commons last December, Brown said the government’s aim was to ‘unleash’ the economy. Speaking on one of his favourite themes — the impact of globalisation on the UK economy — Brown said Asia was “already out-producing Europe.”

Pointing to China, which was “manufacturing half the world’s computers, half the world’s clothes, more than half the world’s digital electronics and this Christmas, more than 75 per cent of children’s toys,” Brown said the UK had no choice “but to outperform and out-innovate our competitors”.

The budget he presented in March showed that the country was, indeed, “growing faster than all the other G7 economies — a growth… stronger than Japan and stronger even than America.”

Significant pickup

According to the March 2007 UK Economic Outlook — a report by PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the UK’s GDP grew by 0.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006, a marginal acceleration from the 0.7 per cent quarterly growth experienced in the previous four quarters.

The level of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2006 was three per cent higher than in the same quarter a year earlier, leading to an average overall growth in 2006 of 2.7 per cent. This represents a significant pickup in economic growth compared to 2005, when annual average GDP growth was just 1.9 per cent.

The report also said that the service sector continued to grow strongly. Services output in the UK rose by one per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006, a marginal increase on the 0.8 per cent growth rate recorded in the previous quarter. Within the service sector, the business services and finance sector grew by a healthy 1.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Economic objectives

The government’s economic objectives, as evident from the 2007 budget, have been to build a strong economy and a fair society, where there is opportunity and security for all. In the report, Budget 2007 — Building Britain’s Long-Term Future: Prosperity and Fairness for Families, the next steps forward have been the following:

• Maintaining macroeconomic stability — ensuring fiscal rules are met and that inflation remains low;
• Raising the sustainable rate of productivity growth through reforms that promote enterprise and competition, enhance flexibility and promote science, innovation and skills;
• Providing employment opportunity for all by promoting a flexible labour market which sustains a higher proportion of people in employment than ever before;
• Ensuring fairness by providing security for people when they need it, tackling child and pensioner poverty, providing opportunity for all children and young people and delivering security for all in retirement;
• Delivering world-class public services with extra investment along with efficiency, reform and results; and
• Addressing environmental challenges, such as climate change and the need for energy efficiency in response to rising oil prices.

Productivity growth

The report also focuses on productivity growth, which is central to the long-term economic performance of any country. In the past the UK has experienced low rates of productivity growth, but in recent years its performance has improved in relation to other major economies.

Budget 2007 sets out the next steps the government has taken to strengthen productivity and meet long-term challenges of the global economy. This includes reforms to the corporate tax system to encourage investment and promote innovation, encouraging regulatory reform in Europe based on risk, maintaining the government’s commitment that private and public sector R&D investment reach 2.5 per cent of GDP and reforming empty property relief in business rates alongside a wider package of land and property incentives to increase competitiveness and encourage investment.

For the first time in 2006, employment in the UK reached 29 million — the highest figure since comparable records began in 1971. The employment rate is now 74.4 per cent, up from 72.7 per cent in 1997, while unemployment has fallen to 5.5 per cent. To build on this success, the government wants to further help lone parents to stay in employment by continuing to make In-Work Credit available to eligible lone parents, benefiting more than 250,000 people. Among other things, it also hopes to start local employment partnerships with large retail employers and short, work-focussed approaches for English as a second or other language.

In his opening remarks, the Chancellor also said: “I have focused on families by raising child benefits and child tax credits, taking 200,000 more children out of poverty; done more to support pensioners by taking 600,000 out of tax by raising the level of tax-free allowances; and I have improved work incentives for lower-income families with children by raising the minimum income from work… to £290 (about Dh2,114) for a 35-hour week.”

As a result of these measures, 58 per cent of pensioners over 65 will not be paying income tax, six out of seven million families with children are better off and the incentive to work has increased by up to £350 (Dh2,551) a year.

The Chancellor also promised greater investment in schools and education to make education a right for every young person until the age of 18. “To reward work, to ensure working families are better off, and to make the tax system fairer, I will, from next April, cut the basic rate of income tax from 22 pence down to 20 pence — the lowest basic rate for 75 years,” said Brown.

The budget has also underlined the importance of the environment, highlighting that climate change is a significant challenge. In its environmental objectives, the government has taken steps to tackle climate change and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, improve air quality and waste management and protect the UK’s countryside and natural resources.

The 2007 budget points to 10 years of economic growth, the longest post-war period of growth in any country. While the government’s policies have brought low inflation, with growing exports and investment, the economy has also received a boost in recent years by immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe. In the words of the Chancellor, it is a budget that will “set out long-term reforms… and build a Britain of high aspiration and achievement for the years to come.”