To kick off the 2025/26 academic year, Welcome Week brought the campus to life with over 800 events spanning arts, sports, volunteering, career support, and endless chances to connect and make memories.
Our Welcome Fair, hosted at UCL East, returned bigger than ever - complete with freebies, a whole host of clubs and societies ready to meet you, and an appearance of our brand-new mascot, Jeremy Beartham.
Thank you to everyone who showed up, came out and made Welcome Week unforgettable.
Let's take a look at the highlights...
Transforming Gordon's Square for Welcome Fest
We totally transformed Gordon Square - we took the green space and with some well placed marquees, a main stage, breakout areas, and a whole load of flags and bunting, we turned it into a festival ground to act as the stage for our Welcome activities.
We loved seeing you all gather round the main stage to watch performances from some of our incredible clubs and societies, join the queues to speak to our brilliant arts, societies, and social impact teams at our fairs, and take the time to chillout in The Hangout.
Activity kicked off at Welcome Fest on Monday 15 September for International Welcome Week, with events created to help you settle in, make friends, and feel at home from day one. Over the next week, we took the festival to a whole new level with more tasters, demo's, performances and live-music.
Discovering your new home
Throughout Welcome, we ran a host of Discover London events (from markets to museums, and everything inbetween). Discover London offers budget-friendly, casual events that make it easy to explore the city and meet new people. Check out upcoming events here.
Our global community takes centre stage
On Monday of Welcome, we celebrated our global community as our cultural societies took to the Main Stage in Gordon Square to perform and show us what UCL is all about.
Our intercultural pizza summit: people might have come for the free pizza, but they stayed for the warm welcome, the lively chats and the friendly community. The summit was a great chance for your intercultural teams, networks and societies to showcase their offerings, and chat with you to find exciting ways to collaborate on events and cultural activities throughout the year.
We can't forget our boat parties! These were sell-out events, welcoming you for a night of music, dancing, and breathtaking views of London’s skyline as the sun set over the city.
On Thursday, while thousands of us were busy meeting societies and picking up freebies at the Welcome Fair, hundreds of you joined us at St Pancras Hotel for a fireside chat with Duolingo CEO and Co-Founder, Luis von Ahn, and your Postgraduate Officer, Darcy Lan. The sell-out event gave us the opportunity to hear from one of the most impactful innovators in education technology, as well as disocvering more about language and culture, which was chaired incredibly by Darcy.
We also ran a whole host of speedfriending sessions throughout the week in a variety of locations, and it was incredible to see you fill the spaces, step out of your comfort zones and make some genuine connections. We can’t wait to see where these new connections take you!
Stars of the show!
Our societies are bursting with talent, and our Main Stage in Gordon Square was their chance to truly shine.
We saw Jazz Society dazzling the crowds:
Taekwondo Club put on a demo to remember:
UCL Lightning took to the stage (and then to the ceiling):
Tamil society enchanted the crowds:
Unveiling Print Room Cafe's brand new look
On the Wednesday of Welcome Week, we celebrated the reopening of Print Room Cafe - Jazz society welcomed us in with an incredible set, and Anam, our Students' Union President, cut the ribbon to signal Print Room was OPEN!
The new look includes more plugs, more seating, and a new and improved counter layout - all of which were suggestions made by you. There's also an extended menu offering - make sure to come down and check it out!
Finding your people: Welcome Fair at UCL East
Hosted for the first time ever at UCL East, 11,000 students came together at UCL for Welcome Fair, the headline event of Welcome, to enjoy a day packed with fun, freebies, and endless opportunities.
Over 400 clubs, societies, and student networks welcomed 11,000 new students to UCL, and our Sabbatical Officers spent the day meeting thousands of you, sharing everything the Students' Union has to offer across Arts and Sports, Social Impact, Advice, Representation, and Democracy.
Giving back to our community
Throughout Welcome Week, you showed up to find out how you can make a difference and give back to your new community. Our social impact team had a presence in Gordon Square all week, talking with hundreds of you about how you to get involved this year.
Lots of you joined us for our Big Help Out events, where we litter-picked, planted new greenery and even headed to Southwark Cathedral to work on a conservation project. These events were all about trying something new, meeting other students, and making a difference in the community.
What's next?
Now welcome is over, we’re here to support you as you discover what you love and find where you belong. There’s a world of opportunities waiting at UCL – all you have to do is take the next step and explore them. Find your next opportunity with us - put yourself forward in our Rep Elections, or join one of the hundreds of taster sessions happening throughout the next few weeks. Whatever you choose to do, we can't wait to see you shine⭐