Celebrating Diversity and Culture at UCL

The ethos from which UCL was founded demonstrates UCL’s beliefs, rooted in the experiential benefits of a diverse culture. From the history of UCL, we learn that UCL has been a change-maker from the start by being the first university to admit students regardless of religion, and the first to admit women on the same basis as men.

Through my experience as a GBSH student, I have seen UCL’s commitment to fostering a diverse environment in my day-to-day experience on campus. As a global healthcare management student, my cohort is largely international students. Through the various group projects and seminars where I can collaborate with my colleagues, I have first-hand seen the benefits of how diversity can truly enrich my GBSH experience. I have made friends from all over the world, from countries such as Denmark, France, Indonesia, India, South Africa, China, the United States, and many many more. The ability to learn from and with such a diverse cohort has been a true experiential journey, as everyone has had different experiences and brings different perspectives.

Multicultural events at UCL

Through my interactions with my colleagues, I have learnt about the differences in healthcare systems in various countries which we can apply to our modules, and different cultural foods, and have even learnt some new words in Portuguese and Mandarin! Further, UCL continuously celebrates the different cultures of its students through the various multicultural clubs and societies that are available to students, some of which are the Telugu Society, Lebanese Society, Somali society, and the Multicultural society, but a more expansive list can be found on the UCL’s student union page.

Beyond student union societies and clubs, UCL has hosted various events to celebrate the diversity within its student body. Most recently, our Faculty of Population Health Sciences, which is the population which GBSH lies within, hosted the Faculty of Population Health Sciences International Students Welcome Party. This was an event that highlighted the diversity of our cohort, where there was food, drinks, music, dancing, games and prizes that could have been won. Everyone was also encouraged to wear something representing the country they were from! Throughout the year, UCL continuously hosts various events to bring the cohort together, so make sure to keep an eye out for these!

Upon reflecting on my time thus far and all the different people I have met, I can truly say that it is such a blessing to be able to meet people from all over the world and to build lasting connections with individuals I would not have otherwise met. Diversity at GBSH not only allows us to learn from different perspectives but also enriches our learning environment and helps us to make life-lasting world-wide connections.