[2] The 1858 Select Committee on Foreign Office recommended reforming diplomacy in the Levant so that only Britons would serve as consuls.
In order to find qualified individuals, they urged the creation of a program that would examine British subjects, specifically their aptitude for language, train them in Constantinople, and eventually use them as interpreters.
Graduates of the program could advance in the Diplomatic Service in Persia, Morocco, Greece, and the Ottoman Empire.
In 1894, the program was restarted, but education in Ortakeui was replaced with two years of study at British universities, notably Cambridge,[5][7] where E.G. Browne trained many students.
[6] The diplomatic arm of the service spanned from the Balkans to China, mainly centering around the Ottoman Empire.