The Council of British International Schools (COBIS) is a membership association that represents more than 450 schools and organisations, globally. High-quality COBIS schools, which educate over 150,000 students and employ more than 30,000 teachers, can be found in 80 countries across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas. COBIS Supporting Associates provide a wide range of services and resources to the international schools sector.

We were founded in 1934, and our first overseas offices opened in 1938, making us the oldest cultural relations organisation in the world.  Originally, we were called the British Committee for Relations with Other Countries The early 1930s were a time of global instability. Britain’s influence was weakened because of a global financial depression, which reduced living standards, jobs, and trade. At the same time, extreme ideologies were gaining ground, with the rise of Communism in Russia, and Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain.  The UK government created the British Council in response. In our annual report for 1940-41, the aim was: to create in a country overseas a basis of friendly knowledge and understanding of the people of this country, of their philosophy and way of life, which will lead to a sympathetic appreciation of British foreign policy, whatever for the moment that policy may be and from whatever political conviction it may spring.’

The University of Cambridge formed the ‘Local Examinations Syndicate’, now known as Cambridge Assessment, over 150 years ago. Its aim was to raise standards in education by administering exams for people who were not members of the University and inspecting schools. For the first time in 1858, 370 school candidates in 7 English cities sat exams set by the University of Cambridge. Today this has risen to more than 8 million candidates a year in 160 countries. The Syndicate began examining internationally in 1864, and this aspect of its work grew quickly.

Pearson plc is a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England. It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s. It is the largest education company and was once the largest book publisher in the world.

OxfordAQA is the international exam board that puts fairness first. Benchmarked to UK standards, our exams only ever test subject ability, not language skills or cultural knowledge. This gives every student the best possible chance to show what they can do and get the results they deserve.