Close
#WeAreUCL: a safe and welcoming community, wherever you're from
2 December 2020
UCL is a safe and welcoming community for all. That's why we've launched the #WeAreUCL campaign to highlight and celebrate the diversity and spirit of our community.
In May 2020, Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW) launched the #WeAreUCL Campaign to celebrate the diversity and spirit of our community in these extraordinary times. The initiative has allowed SSW and colleagues across UCL to spread messages of positivity to our community of students, staff and alumni as well as students joining us this academic year.
2020 has been a time of great uncertainty for all of us, but perhaps even more so for our international students. We hope the campaign reminds our students that wherever they are in the world, we have not forgotten them and they are integral to the very fabric of the institution. ‘London’s Global University’ isn’t just a slogan; when you walk across the Quad or down Malet Place towards the Print Room Café, you’ll be reminded of that; students from across the UK, Europe and the world coming together to learn not only from academics and teachers, but also from each other. The wealth of nationalities and languages spoken, the variety of Students’ Union UCL societies, not to mention the array of thoughts and ideas highlight the rich rainbow of diversity at UCL.
UCL was the first university in England to welcome women to university education, and to welcome students of any religion or social background. The institution was founded on principles of equality and diversity which ring true today, almost 200 hundred years later. Jeremy Bentham has long since gone, but his ideals (as well as his auto icon) remain on campus and underscore the defining spirit of the institution. However, we can still all learn, do more and be better.
Since #WeAreUCL launched, the campaign has grown, providing us with the opportunity to work with colleagues and departments in new and unexpected ways. Working with the Sustainability team as part of their #ChangePossible Zine is one example of this. Another strand to the campaign is the Remarkable Stories podcast which showcases the diversity, resilience and achievements of our staff, students and alumni by telling their own Remarkable Stories. In the weeks to come, we’ll also be catching up with students at home and abroad to reflect on this most unusual time in their lives and what they’re looking forward to most when they return to UCL and London.
Some of you will have seen the UCL Community video that launched the campaign (see below), sharing a message of positivity from staff and students. We hope that the concluding lines particularly resonate at this time:
We are UCL, one community
And everyone is welcome
UCL Student Support and Wellbeing