2023 marks the tenth year of the #WeAreInternational Campaign, spearheaded by the UK Council of International Student Affairs (UKCISA), which celebrates the contributions of international students in the UK, as well as highlighting what makes it such a fantastic study abroad location!
With International Students’ Day coming up on the 17 November We’ve taken a look at five stand-out examples of how UK universities are marking the occasion.
Universities are taking to X (formerly Twitter) to celebrate their international student communities using the #WeAreInternational hashtag. We loved this short clip from the University of Liverpool, featuring international students from various countries welcoming the viewer to Liverpool in their native languages!
Lots of good stuff has been happening on the University of York International Instagram profile under the #WeAreInternational hashtag. It features plenty of practical advise for incoming international students, as well as sneak peaks into what it’s actually like to study at the university from an international perspective!
We particularly enjoyed student stories from Rafili, Beliz, Fedor and others, as well as this handy guide to finding international food stores in York – an often overlooked piece of advice that we’re sure will help viewers feel more at home.
We’ve been loving vlog-style content from international students that gives a glimpse into their lives while studying abroad. A stand-out example was a series of videos from Manchester Metropolitan University, each presented by an international student sharing their favourite aspects of studying the university and of life in the city. The series features students from Malaysia, Indonesia, the US and more!
The #WeAreInternational campaign is not just about what the UK can offer international students, but what they are can offer us, and the University of Wolverhampton is doing a great job of shouting about the contribution that international students make to our economy and culture!
The university highlighted that international students in the West Midlands alone generate a £3.1 billion net impact on the country’s economy, while promoting research by Universities UK studying the positive economic impacts of international study across the entire country.
We enjoyed the postgraduate focus of this video from the University of Strathclyde, which features Ehinomen, one of 1,800 international doctoral students studying there. This was a candid insight into Ehinomen’s experience of coming to the UK for her PhD, with discussion of both the benefits and struggles of studying abroad.
If you want to get involved with the campaign and showcase your university’s international community, you can use the #WeAreInternational toolkit to create unique assets for your social media accounts!