There are many benefits to being a student at an international university. You can make friends from all over the world, and learn from diverse cultures and ways of life.
Studying alongside students from other countries can also boost your future career. Intercultural experience and language skills are highly valued by employers, and fellow students can become future business contacts.
NUS is running a two-year project supporting students’ unions to help their members make the most of these opportunities – the Internationalising Students’ Unions project. Forty students’ unions across the UK are taking part in the project. They are working to increase involvement of international students in the students’ union, and to provide an international experience for all students.
Students have organised all sorts of activities and events to make their students’ unions more international:
Loughborough Students’ Union has started a campaign to encourage students to take part in international activities in the UK and abroad:
Edinburgh University Students’ Association has set up free language classes for students
Warwick Students’ Union organises One World Week every year – the largest international student festival in the UK.
Sheffield Students’ Union has a full-time elected officer representing international students, and organises international activities and events throughout the year.
Newcastle Union Society have organised a programme of events for home and international students as part of their Culture Challenge.
De Montfort Students’ Union’s Global Villages project provides opportunities fir home and international students to make new friends and take part in activities
If you would like to organise something similar in your students’ union, speak to the elected officers in your students' union.