Hello friends, and welcome to Term 3. I hope you had a relaxing Easter break, and I wish you the best of luck with your end of year exams and assessments.
As Activities and Engagement Officer, one of my goals has been to improve engagement with our international student community.
55% of UCL’s student body are international, and there are more than 15,000 students from China alone. As the first Chinese Activities and Engagement Officer, one of my priorities has been to raise awareness for the unique challenges this group of students face.
In my role I have worked to increase the engagement with our cultural societies and across our cultural events. In February, I supported the Chinese Students and Scholars Association to run their Chinese Temple Fair. I also helped the Students’ Union Intercultural Engagement team to run this year’s International Festival.
I have advised the Union on how to better communicate with students using Chinese social channels and begun conversations with Fudan University to foster a cultural exchange program.
I regularly meet with UCL’s Global Engagement team, and work with teams across UCL and the Union to help improve the support provided to new international students before they move to London. All of this has been alongside my day-to-day activities supporting students as a Sabbatical Officer.
I was very pleased to be re-elected as Activities and Engagement Officer for 2024-25, and I want to thank everyone who voted for me and supported me throughout my campaign.
However, I have been fortunate enough to be offered a place at Columbia University, NY, to continue my academic pursuit in scientific computing. Although it was a hard decision to make, I have decided to accept this offer and commit to my studies next academic year.
I am excited to continue to represent students for the rest of this academic year. In May, I will be travelling to China with UCL’s Provost team to strengthen our links with international communities and represent the Students’ Union in conversations with perspective new students.
Thanks again to everyone who has supported me throughout this role, and I can’t wait to see what Anastasija achieves as your next Activities and Engagement Officer!
