The University of Bradford has a strong track record in providing exemplary support services for its international students. In the 2015 NUS/UKCISA Internationalisation Awards, the university’s International Student Adviser was awarded the ‘Student Adviser of the Year’ award, and our Student’s Union received the ‘Excellence in International Student Support’ award.
After initially taking the opportunity to share some of our award winning practices with our audience, we’d like to run a focus group-style workshop, to investigate new and innovative ways to support international students during their journey to higher education in the UK.
Providing clear, informative advice and guidance, which is appropriate for international students and their influencers, is challenging. Barriers such as language, cultural differences, time differences, availability of digital resources, expense of printed resources, etc., are all present, significant challenges for UK universities when trying to provide impactful advice and guidance.
Providing increased digital resources and using social media platforms undoubtedly helps break down some barriers. But is this fit for purpose for all markets?
A number of our current international students will attend this session to offer an insight into their journey to HE in the UK, and share their own experiences.