One World Week is back aiming to unite campus

Final preparations are being made for Warwick’s annual One World Week, which will take place from 29 January.

The Warwick campus will be taken over for nine days, with a diverse array of events and activities to be featured aimed at celebrating cultural diversity and the ‘World’s mosaic of cultures’.

Coordinator Conor Rooney summed up the significance of the week: “It is important due to the wide range of participants in our events, with our week long activities uniting so many usually disparate student groups at Warwick.”

The 2011 programme has been divided up into four ‘elements’: Nights, Festival, Sports and Forum and will witness a host of activities take place across campus.

One of the highlights of the Nights programme is DJ Mark Ronson, as well as a cosmopolitan array of different acts and performances. The anticipated ‘grande finale’ is also expected to sell out quickly, and consists of a 3,000-capacity World Party to be held in the Copper Rooms.

The Festival programme will see a variety of cultural events held across campus, from Bollywood dancing and Sumo wrestling to Kazakh folk dance, while for Sports there will be an array of sporting competitions, which for the first time will include competitors from other universities.

The organisers have also sought to diversify the range of topics on offer for this year’s highly regarded Forum programme, with talks taking place including a mixture of cultural and global issues.

Among the guest speakers are Editor of the Economist Michael Reid and Head of the UK Atomic Energy Authority Steven Cowley.

One World Week 2011 will also be seeking to answer its critics. Last year witnessed a record turnout, yet became the subject of controversy, largely over the sponsorship and management of the event.

“We’ve taken on board many criticisms from last year, and have really tried to play to our strengths and communicate what OWW actually is” said Rooney.

“We aim to use the exec structure in order to facilitate communication throughout OWW rather than trying to stifle any of the creative ideas or visions coming from the various team members. It also allows passionate and talented first- and second-year students to get increasingly more involved each year and to further develop themselves.”

There are some students who remain sceptical. Fourth-year Physics student Mark Collis said: “In previous years I felt that it took over campus too much, with no proper cohesion between different societies.”

He added: “I don’t believe it to be a truly effective promoter of multiculturalism.”

However, One World Week still fosters much enthusiasm among students. First-year Mathematics student Akash Mapara said: “There appear to be plenty of activities and events to enjoy, and it will benefit people around the world as well as students.”

Sociology student Karis Baxter commented: “I’m looking forward to the events, particularly Mark Ronson, while I believe they will help to foster a spirit of cultural cohesion.”