Warwick receives Internationalisation award

**The University and Students’ Union (SU) at Warwick have been awarded for excellence in international student support by the National Union of Students (NUS) and the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA).**

Stephen Williams, head of student experience in the International Office, and SU societies officer, Silkie Cragg, received the 2013 NUS Internationalisation Award for Excellence in International Student Support at a ceremony following the Warwick Integration Summit on March 7 2013.

The judges said that: “Warwick provides exceptional support services for international students and they have fully demonstrated to the panel the positive impact these services have on the student experience.

“For example, they recently found workable solutions to the problems their international students were experiencing with banking and police registration, have improved their orientation programme, and have facilitated integration and participation in university life by running a great number of cultural trips.”

The past year has seen the levels of satisfaction of international students at Warwick with the support services offered reach a record high. Mr Williams commented: “We’re delighted to have received national recognition for the outstanding support we provide international students at the University of Warwick.

“This NUS Award for Excellence in International Student Support is due to the fact we’ve taken a collaborative approach with our Students’ Union to monitoring and acting upon student feedback in areas that make a real difference to the lives of international students in the UK.”

In addition, Meena Devlukia from the Student Advice Centre at Warwick was one of four nominees singled out for individual recognition of her outstanding work supporting international students.

Daniel Stevens, previous Warwick SU president and current NUS international students’ officer, commented: “I’m excited that at a time when negative stories about international students are all around that we can come together to celebrate the positives that are more representative of international students in the UK.

“The winners and nominees of these awards demonstrate the incredible commitment and immense value that international students bring to their campuses and local communities and the way universities work with Students’ Unions to create a truly international experience for all students.”

Societies officer at the SU, Silkie Cragg, was very pleased by the national recognition for what has been an on-going process within the University and the SU.

“We are extremely proud of this achievement and feel that it is a testament to several years’ worth of work that the teams at the Union and University have put in together to improve support for international students,” she said.

“Recognising that a third of all students at Warwick come from overseas, the SU has worked very closely with the University’s International Office over the past six years to jointly deliver services to support them. Our collaborative strategy is a model that has since been actively duplicated in Universities across the country.”

Ms Cragg was particularly complimentary of several new initiatives at Warwick: “Of particular note is the Go Global Project,” she said. “[The project] was jointly created in 2010 by the International Office and the president at that time Daniel Stevens.

“Go Global has since funded the World@Warwick Society, which won the Best New Society at last year’s Socs Awards for its incredible achievements in launching buddy schemes, taking international students around the UK and Ireland, and providing platforms for language exchanges.”