A review of the GEx Dialogue Conference and UniFair - London October 2017

Our third Global Education Conference on Global Engagement officially launched the eighth consecutive UniFair event in London on 7^th October.

· Over 75 UK universities and provider institutions, 1,470 students and 8 national and international media platforms came together to celebrate their keen enthusiasm for global Higher Education across the UK, US and Australia.

“Being excellent by being global”

Among our GEx guest speakers. Prof. Vince Emery, Senior Vice-President, Global Strategy from the University of Surrey, took the stage, taking the position that the UK’s international student body has the potential to create more global business and interpersonal connections. He stated, “Our international student population are much more mobile than our national student population.”

Lalage Clay, Head of Education at the London Mayoral office stated that London still attracts more international students than any other city worldwide. This was confirmed by additional speakers, Julie Dass and Stephanie Limuaco from the External Relations Directorate at King’s College.

Lord Clement-Jones, Chair of Council at Queen Mary, University of London, emphasised the importance of events like UniFair in that they allow students to “…build social capital and enhance social progress on education”.

Summing up, Lord Bilimoria, current Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Students confidently stated, “Our universities produce more world leaders than any other country and the top research.”

He continued, “We have got this perception that international students are not welcome in this country. This is the wrong perception. That is not what our universities feel at all.”

Lord Bilimoria qualified, “International students are not just about money. They enrich the experience of our domestic students. They make lifelong friendships.”

Philip Hao, CEO of Learning without Borders, UVIC’s parent company, thanked the Guest Speakers and audience before asserting, “We can see that other parts of the world are waking up to the advantages of welcoming international students.”

Discussing the international student market in China, Philip observed the innovation in the competition to attract global talents with the means to study abroad is “…becoming highly charged, a global race between the major destination countries.”

Q&A session

Lord Bilimoria responded that most parliamentary groups are “…ready tomorrow to take net migration figures out of the picture…,” as they mislead public opinion about the actually very small number of international students who settle in the UK after their studies. He elaborated the UK government should, like Australia and other destinations, “…have specific targets to increase numbers of international students.”

Comments from our UniFair Partners

Hannah representing The University of Manchester found the GEx informative stating, “The speech from Lord Bilimoria was the highlight of GEx, and we very much valued the opportunity to hear his views on a range of issues.”

Angeline from the University of Brighton commented, “The GEx dialogue was very interesting and useful to see how other universities are going global.”

Amazing media coverage

PIE News - Our partners also enjoyed overwhelmingly positive coverage from a wide range of media platforms such as PIE international education news. https://thepienews.com/gallery/unifair-event-london-uk/

China Central CCTV – The viewership of this Sunday night national news programme is usually in the hundreds of millions. The GEx Conference and UniFair – London item appears after CCTV’s final news piece on Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump. http://m.cctv1zhibo.com/wanjianxinwen/13998.html

UniFair also made headlines in the Chinese language European Times, the UK Chinese Journal and several online news channels.

Many of our University Partners were also interviewed by HiThere, a video media platform covering international cultural exchange reaching over 10 million viewers. Zoe of the University of Southampton said she enjoyed the HiThere interview “enormously” as an opportunity to promote her University and the city of Southampton.

Great mixture of students was in attendance

Many partner representatives found a good mix of students who expressed keen interest in both undergraduate and postgraduate study in a variety of fields and UVIC staff received encouraging feedback from partners regarding the event’s welcoming environment.

Allan, representing Durham University, commented, “The Hilton venue facilities were first class. The Hall was spacious and brightly lit, and it had the feeling of being open and inviting.”

Louise from the University of York commented, “This was my first time at a UVIC event and I was very impressed. I felt the day ran very smoothly.”

Charlotte travelled from East Anglia University and summed up her experience by saying, “…everyone involved was hardworking, professional and welcoming. Overall a great experience and we will be back next October!”

We at UVIC are proud of the success and attention enjoyed by the GEx and UniFair events in 2017.

We believe the main goal of UniFair is to assist placing students from all backgrounds and cultures in their dream universities. In this regard, we and our Partners demonstrate capacity to make great strides in paving the way to bright futures for the next generation of UK international students.