On the back of the HEPI, UUKi and Kaplan International Pathways report with updated figures on the economic benefit that international students bring to the UK, London Higher, along with Universities UK International, BUILA, UKCISA and British Council – Study UK, are relaunching the #WeAreInternational campaign. We are hoping that this campaign helps universities all around the UK celebrate the contributions beyond the economic, namely the cultural, social and civic ones, that international students make to the UK.
So, why is this important?
Today, I want to tell my story. The UK might be home to me now, but when I first arrived here, I came as an international student. Being half Latvian, half American, and having spent most of my life in the Czech Republic, I had only been to London a handful of times as a tourist. I had never previously visited the University of Warwick, where I would spend the next three years of my life. Admittedly, this was before the complexities of Brexit and luckily back then I could still pay home fees as an EU student, but the student experience for me was very much the same as that of any other international student. It was daunting to arrive in a new country on my own, with one suitcase, and begin a new life.
The University of Warwick is home to over 9,500 international students from 147 countries; this is almost one third of the entire student population. It’s not quite UCL with its 55% of international students, but having so many other international students around me made a real difference being able to connect with others in a similar situation: all new, in a country that we didn’t know. Although it was the international students that originally made me feel more at home, I also met so many wonderful home students throughout my studies who would become lifelong friends. Soon, I joined Warwick Volunteers, played a variety of sports, and joined the Politics society, connecting with students from a variety of backgrounds and with a variety of interests.
