That's the biggest stretch in the world.
The joke is about education systems. If it was about British interest overseas he would have said something like "Yes, we are English. We take a lot of interest in far away lands".
I'm not saying he wouldn't make that joke, it's a normal enough joke for Brit to make. But he is certainly joking about quality in education in this case as he mentions it. You are just imagining the world as you want it to be, not seeing it for how it is.
Let's wait for the Brits to wake up and see what their view is.