8 world leaders educated in the UK

How British education has taken over the world

According to the British Council, almost one in ten influential politicians in the world, head of state or government, has been educated in the United Kingdom. Professor Rebecca Hughes, director of education at the British Council, calls this link between the UK and world leaders the “long-term assets” of their country. The Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), an independent think tank dedicated to higher education, conducted its own research and confirmed the British influence: 55 world leaders from 51 countries studied at English universities. Experts believe that the popularity of British education lies in its fundamentality and modern approach at the same time. We talk about some of the hardest working and capable graduates.

The queen of Denmark

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Before becoming queen, Margrethe II, who ascended the Danish throne in 1972, studied at two English universities. Margrethe first studied archaeology at Cambridge and then economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

President of Colombia

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Juan Manuel Santos, Colombian president (since 2010) and Nobel Peace Prize winner (2016), graduated from the London School of Economics in the mid-1970s. Since then, Santos has been a Graduate in Economic Development.

President of Taiwan

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Before becoming Taiwan’s first female president, Tsai Ing-wen studied law at home and then in America, but she chose to study for a doctorate in the UK. In 1984, Inwen received her PhD in law at the London School of Economics.

President of Iceland

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Oulavur Ragnar Grimsson, the Icelandic president who ran the country from 1996 to 2006, graduated from reykjavik High School in the early 1960s and almost immediately went to the UK. There he graduated from the University of Manchester with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science – a much-needed area of expertise for the future head of state.

Belgian Prime Minister

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Elio di Rupo, the Belgian prime minister who served from 2011 to 2014, graduated from the University of Leeds. Moreover, the future politician there liked so much that in the 70s he was happy to teach at this university.

Australian Prime Minister

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Malcolm Turnbull, who has been Australian prime minister since 2015, initially studied to be a lawyer at home, but then won an international Rhodes Scholarship and went to Oxford, where he returned as a bachelor in civil law. Incidentally, with the previous Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, there was a very similar story.

King of Norway

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Harald V, who became King of Norway in 1991, studied economics, political science and history at the University of Oxford in the 1960s. His father, King Olaf V, studied in the 1920s there almost the same thing.

Hungarian Prime Minister

8 world leaders educated in the UK
Viktor Orban, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary (from 1998 to 2002 and from 2010), studied law first at the University of Budapest, but then received a Soros Foundation scholarship and went to train at Oxford Pembroke College. Interestingly, even at home, in the Hungarian village of Sekeshfehervar, where the future Prime Minister was born, he graduated from a local school with an English bias.

Related: www.kommersant.uk author: Helen Schachnowski