As we approach the King’s Coronation and communities across the country launch their initiatives for ‘The Big Help Out’ campaign to encourage individuals to get involved in volunteering and community support, one group of students who could hugely benefit from these interventions are international students. With many universities seeing increases to their international student populations, plus a report released by UCAS last month which ‘[projects] a 60 per cent increase in international students, signalling the ongoing attraction of UK HE’, universities need to broaden their approach to supporting international students across all facets of the student experience.
At Student Hubs we see the vital role which international students have in our work in communities and with students through our activities. Across our Hub partnerships at UK universities around one fifth of our participants are from international or EU backgrounds. Engaging these students is important in providing opportunities for their connection and belonging with the local area, developing their peer networks with students, and bringing their global perspectives into the work we do with local communities. We want to reflect on how community engagement can be a transformative activity through which to approach international students’ skills, wellbeing and belonging in their university towns and cities.
In the past three months there have been several key reports and findings which acknowledge that more could be done to support international students’ experience of UK higher education. In mid-February AGCAS released a report funded by the UPP Foundation which highlights challenges faced by international graduates to secure work after leaving university in the UK.
