Seamless and secure exams operational support

Expert support for secure school exams delivery

Delivering high-stakes school exams requires precision, compliance and trusted operational expertise. The British Council supports schools around the world with secure, end-to-end exam administration, helping schools reduce complexity and ensure exams are delivered safely, efficiently and in line with awarding body and local legislation requirements.

Each year, we deliver high-stakes exams to more than 4.5 million individuals across over 130 countries and 700 locations. This includes international school qualifications, professional and university exams, IELTS, and other English language assessments. With over 26,000 highly experienced local examination staff around the world, we ensure swift, effective and efficient support on the ground. For many years we have been the preferred partner of choice for leading awarding bodies to deliver academic and professional examinations internationally.

For schools offering international school qualifications, our operational and administrative support helps make the process seamless, secure and manageable, so educators can focus on teaching and learning.

Why schools choose the British Council for exam delivery support

Schools need a trusted partner that understands the operational, regulatory and logistical demands of delivering high-stakes assessments.

Our support helps deliver more than 1 million school exams annually for over 250,000 students, partnering with international education providers: Cambridge, OxfordAQA and Pearson Edexcel. Our support is designed to reduce administrative burden, manage risk and give school leaders confidence that every stage of the exams process is being handled professionally.

Quality and Compliance Assurance Framework (QCA)

Our operational support is underpinned by the British Council’s Quality and Compliance Assurance Framework (QCA), a rigorous global compliance process that helps ensure standards are met across our exam delivery network.

The QCA framework monitors and audits compliance against more than 100 standards across all areas of exam delivery. It supports high standards of operational quality, exam security and integrity across the globe. These standards draw on awarding body requirements, British Council business rules and corporate policies, including:
     • anti-bribery
     • safeguarding
     • health and safety
     • data protection
     • equality, diversity and inclusion
The standards are updated annually to reflect new developments, including emerging risks and changes in candidate behaviour or technology use.
For school leaders, this means greater confidence that exam delivery is being managed through a robust, proven and accountable quality framework

Helping schools focus on what matters most

Managing high-stakes school exams can place significant pressure on leadership teams and school administrators. With the British Council as your partner, schools can reduce complexity, strengthen compliance and deliver exams with confidence.
Our role is to help make exam delivery secure, consistent and efficient, so schools can spend less time and resources on logistics and more time supporting student success.