The British Council is an independent organization which was founded in 1940. __________ _________ It was founded to promote educational, cultural and technical cooperation between Britain and other countries. __________ _________ The aim of the organization is to have long- term and worldwide partnership and to improve international understanding. __________ _________ At present the British Council is working in 100 countries in the field of English language teaching, education and training and social, economic development. __________ _________ The British Council’s UK headquarters are in London and in Manchester supervised by a Board and a Director General __________ _________ It receives about one third of its funding from the British government and earns the rest from various services it offers to clients and from managing projects for other agencies, such as the World Bank __________ _________ The British Council organizes international conferences for academics. __________ _________ The British Council administers examinations such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) __________ _________