Swansea University Students’ Union reached the final of the UK’s National Union of Students Internationalisation Awards in recognition of its work on International student campaigning and communication.
Swansea University’s nomination, which came third overall, highlighted the important work which the Students Union does:
- Swansea University Students Union is the only Students Union in Wales with a full time International Students Officer, Mahaboob Basha from India.
- The International Students Officer sends emails directly to all international and overseas students.
- He gives weekly updates on blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
- The Swansea University Chinese Society is one of the largest student social networks in the UK, with over a thousand members from across the world including business people in China and the UK and Members of Parliament in UK and China.
- Weekly meetings with Arab and European students.
- 18 international societies on campus.
Swansea University Students’ Union’s campaigning slogan for international students “If I say NO I will find out who can say YES for you” is very popular across the campus.
The first ever Internalisation Awards attracted 85 applications from 35 Students’ Union’s, competing in 11 award categories.
Sara Huws-Davies, Director of Student Services said: “ Swansea University is extremely proud of the achievement of the Students’ Union in the recent NUS Internationalisation Awards. This recognises the importance of the role the Union plays in supporting Internationalisation in partnership with the University’s International Development Office and International Student Advisory Service. Through highly effective joint working, Swansea aims to provide a truly excellent experience to incoming international students and home UK students wishing to study abroad.”
The NUS Internationalisation Awards are supported by the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA). UKCISA is the UK’s national advisory body serving the interests of international students and those who work with them.
The Internationalisation Networking Day and Awards Ceremony took place on 13th December at the Birmingham Guild of Students. The day celebrated the successes of the Internationalising Students’ Unions projects and looked at what the future holds for internationalisation.
The awards ceremony followed a day of networking with interactive workshops and knowledge building presentations covering a wide range of international student issues and internationalised union activities, allowing unions to showcase their work and learn from others.
