A commitment to intercultural understanding
As I look back on my time as International and Postgraduate Officer, three particular highlights stand out to me. The first is passing a policy at Better Forums to introduce compulsory intercultural training for students and staff at the University of Leeds. I pursued this policy because changes needed to be made to improve the sense of belonging of our large international student community, as well as to mitigate microaggressions and increase inclusion. The idea came out of an International Student Advisory Board meeting, where members spoke about their concerns of discrimination on and off campus. Naturally, the fair treatment and inclusion of all of our students is at the forefront of the work that I do, so it was important to me to use my role to take action. I was delighted that the policy passed at forum, and that lobbying the University for the introduction of mandatory training alongside that given on issues such as plagiarism will now be LUU policy until 2025. I’m excited to see where the Union and its next Officer team takes the policy, and hope that it will result in real changes for our valued international students in the coming years.
Celebrating our diversity
Another proud moment in a similar area was the successes of two intercultural events – the International Winter Festival and the World Unite Festival. These events were designed to really bring together our diverse student community – home and international students alike – to share food, culture and performances, as well as to facilitate some important discussions around belonging, as well as different countries’ approaches to pressing issues like sustainability. It’s been important to me that we not only focus on tackling issues associated with intercultural inclusion, but that we celebrate our diversity too – with such a vibrant community it would be remiss not to!
Connecting postgraduates
Postgraduate students – both taught and research – have been as much my priority during my time as Officer as international students have been. This year I was able to set up LUU’s weekly Postgraduate Cafe, which has been a wonderfully rewarding experience. Postgraduates had told us that it was more challenging to meet people at this level of study, so I wanted to create an informal environment to facilitate these meetings and help form friendships. Through establishing the Postgraduate Cafe I’ve been able to do just that, and have also created a forum for me to get to meet postgrads directly, getting their feedback, insight and ideas. It’s been brilliant for me to witness the difference it’s made for our postgrads first hand, and we’ve had brilliant feedback from the students and researchers who attend. They’ve been such a success, there are plans to continue the sessions after I’ve left, providing a really positive legacy for all postgraduate students.
It’s been a busy year full of meetings, event planning, campaigning and much more – I even lifted the trophy when Leeds won this year’s Varsity! – so really these highlights are just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve been able to make some concrete improvements for international and postgraduate students, and hope that my legacy – carried through my policy and the events I’ve established this year – will continue to benefit these groups for years.
