International Academy (United Kingdom)

Last updated

The International Academy is an institution of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom. It was originally the Diplomatic Academy when it was part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The International Academy is located in the main building of the FCDO in King Charles Street, London.

Contents

History

The creation of a new Diplomatic Academy was announced in a speech by William Hague, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, on 19 September 2013 on the occasion of the opening of the FCO's new Language Centre. [1] The Academy began operating in 2014 and was opened officially by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on 10 February 2015. [2] The Academy was a Directorate of the FCO. The first Director of the Academy (2014–17) was Jon Davies. His successor as Director (2017-20) was Jon Benjamin.

Faculty

The Academy was originally structured into 11 thematic areas, or "Faculties": These were: International Policy, Diplomatic Practice, States and Societies, Understanding the UK, Consular and Crisis Management, Economics and Prosperity, Europe, Multilateral, Security Defence and Intelligence, Law, and Languages. [3] A twelfth Faculty - Trade Policy and Negotiations - was added in 2016 after the UK vote to leave the European Union. [4]

In 2017 the Academy absorbed further internal responsibilities for management and leadership training and for the FCO's overseas network of Regional Learning & Development Teams, which became the Diplomatic Academy Regional Teams (DARTs). The Diplomatic Academy became the principal learning and development (L&D) organisation of the FCO.

Facilities

A new learning facility named the Mayhew Theatre (after Baroness Cicely Mayhew, the UK's first woman diplomat) was officially opened on 4 March 2019 by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge. [5] The theatre was given this name following a vote of FCO staff. [6]

The Academy's face-to-face and online programmes are aimed at FCDO employees and employees of other UK government departments and agencies who are working in international roles. It does not offer external enrolment on face-to-face courses, but it has experimented with the concept of the Massive Open Online Course and has released two public courses. The first, entitled Diplomacy in the 21st Century, was developed with the Open University and ran on the FutureLearn platform in January–March and May-July 2019 with over 13,500 registrations in total. [7] A second course entitled Introduction to British Diplomacy ran in February and May 2020. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign relations of the United Kingdom</span> Overview of the foreign relations of the United Kingdom

The diplomatic foreign relations of the United Kingdom are conducted by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, headed by the Foreign Secretary. The prime minister and numerous other agencies play a role in setting policy, and many institutions and businesses have a voice and a role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office</span> Ministerial department of the UK Government

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID). The FCO was itself created in 1968 by the merger of the Foreign Office (FO) and the Commonwealth Office. The department in its various forms is responsible for representing and promoting British interests worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign Secretary</span> Member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom

The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, also known as the foreign secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The role is seen as one of the most senior ministers in the UK Government and is a Great Office of State. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom and National Security Council, and reports directly to the prime minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heads of Diplomatic Missions of the United Kingdom</span>

The Heads of British diplomatic missions are persons appointed as senior diplomats to individual nations, or international organisations. They are usually appointed as ambassadors, except in member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations where a high commissioner is appointed. The head of mission to an international organisation is usually a permanent representative. For some nations a consul or consul-general is appointed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Reddaway</span> British diplomat (born 1953)

Sir David Norman Reddaway is a retired British diplomat who was High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Ireland and Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Dalton (diplomat)</span> British diplomat

Sir Richard John Dalton is a former senior member of the British Diplomatic Service. His assignments included British Ambassador to Libya and Iran. He retired from the Diplomatic Service in 2006. He is currently an Associate Fellow at Chatham House's Middle East and North Africa Programme. He was knighted in the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours.

David Carter is a former British diplomat who is an academic at Cambridge University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Gass</span> British Civil servant, former British diplomat

Sir Simon Lawrance Gass is a British civil servant. He chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee from 2019 to 2023 and served as the British Prime Minister's representative on Afghanistan from 2021 to 2022 concurrently. Between 2018 and 2019, he was the Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies. During his diplomatic career, he served as British ambassador to Greece and to Iran. In May 2023, it was announced he was stepping down as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee and succeeded by Madeleine Alessandri.

Nabil Ayad is an academic in the field of diplomacy and international governance. He is currently a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Royal Institute of International Affairs and an Associate Member of the London Diplomatic Association.

Sir Brian James Proetel Fall is a retired British diplomat who was the UK's Special Representative for the South Caucasus 2002–12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antony Phillipson</span> British diplomat

Antony John Phillipson is a British diplomat, and as of 2021 a 2022, British High Commissioner to South Africa. He was High Commissioner to Singapore from 2011 to April 2015, and from 2017 to June 2021 was the British Consul-General in New York and Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner for North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Fletcher (diplomat)</span> British diplomat

Thomas Stuart Francis "Tom" Fletcher CMG is the Principal of Hertford College, Oxford. He was formerly a British diplomat, a writer, and a campaigner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Macaire (diplomat)</span> British diplomat

Robert Nigel Paul Macaire CMG is a British diplomat who served as UK's Ambassador to Iran from 2018 to 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon McDonald, Baron McDonald of Salford</span> British diplomat

Simon Gerard McDonald, Baron McDonald of Salford, is a British former diplomat who was the Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Head of the Diplomatic Service until September 2020. He was the last professional head of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office before the creation of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. He has been the Master of Christ's College, Cambridge, since September 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Drew (diplomat)</span> British diplomat

Sir Thomas Drew is a British diplomat who is currently Director General, Defence and Intelligence, at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and has previously been British High Commissioner to Pakistan.

Cicely Elizabeth Mayhew, Baroness Mayhew was a British diplomat. She was the second woman to work for the British Foreign Office, and its first female diplomat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Schroeder</span> British diplomat

Dominic Sebastian Schroeder is a British diplomat currently serving as Principal of the International Academy of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moazzam Malik (diplomat)</span> British Diplomat

Moazzam Tufail Malik is a former British civil servant and diplomat. He is Managing Director at the World Resources Institute, a leading international NGO and think tank focused on climate and development issues, and Chair at the Muslim Charities Forum, an umbrella NGO for faith based charities in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Thompson (diplomat)</span> British ambassador to the Czech Republic (b. 1965)

Jan Thompson is a British diplomat, who since April 2023 has served as the British Ambassador to Norway. She served previously as British Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2013 to 2017, and as British Deputy High Commissioner to India from 2018 to 2023.

Nicholas Westcott is a British diplomat. He is director of the Royal African Society since 2017 and a research associate at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS University of London. He was formerly a member of Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service, serving as British High Commissioner to Ghana and as managing director for Africa and the Middle East in the European External Action Service. He has also published a number of books and articles on African history and international affairs.

References

  1. ↑ "Foreign Secretary opens Foreign Office language school". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  2. ↑ "FCO launches UK's first Diplomatic Academy | Civil Service World". www.civilserviceworld.com. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  3. ↑ "Brochure of Diplomatic Academy 2015" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  4. ↑ "Whitehall seeks trade expert to lead "masterclasses" in wake of Brexit vote | Civil Service World". www.civilserviceworld.com. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  5. ↑ "Duke pays tribute to pioneering woman diplomat" . Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  6. ↑ "New learning centre honours diplomat and codebreaker Lady Cicely Mayhew" . Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  7. ↑ FutureLearn. "Diplomacy in the 21st Century - Online Course". FutureLearn. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  8. ↑ FutureLearn. "Introduction to British Diplomacy - Online Course". FutureLearn. Retrieved 2020-02-09.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.