UWS celebrates culture with week-long event series

Staff and students have been celebrating the diverse range of nationalities at UWS and sharing their experiences of living, working and studying in Scotland as part of a week-long series of Celebrate Culture events.

From Monday 22 – Sunday 28 March, people from across the University, as well as the local community, have taken part in a range of virtual events, supported by Foundation Scotland, which aimed to develop a shared understanding of each other’s ethnic and cultural differences.

The activities on offer ranged from craft courses, song writing workshops and relaxation through art, to storytelling sessions and Indonesian dance classes. There were also a range of events dedicated to Scotland’s culture, such as music, Robert Burns and Scottish heritage activities.

Local community organisations helped run the sessions, including the Inspiring Families Network, Engage Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire Leisure and Pachedu.

The event included a video and photo competition, which asked UWS’s international students and those who had taken part in study abroad initiatives to send videos and photos explaining their experiences.

The winning video was from Paisley campus business student, Lucile Caron, with London campus MBA student, Muhammad Danish named as runner-up.

UWS’s Celebrate Culture week reinforced the amazing and diverse student and staff body we have at the University. It has been fascinating to hear and learn more about the range of cultures which make UWS so vibrant and unique. While the events were virtual, there was no shortage of activities for people to take part in. I’d also like to extend my congratulations to the winner of the photo and video competition, who really captured what it means to be an international student becoming familiar with a new environment and culture. It has been a fantastic week!

Professor Jonathan Powles, Vice-Principal for Learning, Teaching and Students at UWS

Find out more about what UWS’s international staff members think about Scotland and Scottish culture in this video.