Clubs and societies were an area that Aoife covered in one of the 30-minute group research exercises. It was really handy to look at what she found out and off the back of her research I'm looking at more international student clubs and societies.
Queens has an international student society but also hosts individual ones as well like the African and Caribbean societies, Chinese study Association, Indonesia society, Islamic society, Malaysian student society, south Asian student society...
The African Caribbean Medical Association was created in 2020 and aims to provide social, emotional, and academic support for medical students from African and Caribbean backgrounds, to create a platform to help graduates and current students develop a professional network and to increase the presence of African and Caribbean students that are interested in healthcare.
Other societies like the International Engineering Society is to help support and encourage a more diverse engineering group at Queen's University. It is run by international students for international students because it is common for them to feel isolated and alone in a new country without a community.
There is Queen's International Student Society that is aimed towards over 2000 international students from 70 different countries the queens have. Qulture shock is an annual event organised by the Society it provides students an opportunity to share and celebrate the culture of international students’ posts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they held a Friends Without Borders virtual buddy scheme so that students were able to meet people from all around the world make new friends and support each other. During this time they also held a free grocery service to help each other through it.
https://www.qub.ac.uk/International/International-students/student-societies/
https://home.q-su.org/clubssocieties/qiss/
In comparison to Ulster University (Belfast campus), they also have an international society called One World-international Students Society. It was founded back in 2014 on the Jordanstown campus with the idea of bringing international and home students together to help them build friendships across cultural boundaries. They have a mix of online and in-person events anything from paintballing, movie nights, quizzes, coffee chats, and a huge end-of-year party.
Online they also have the international student society (Magee campus) welcomes all international students and home-students home students who are interested in learning more about cultural diversity and making international friends. They believe that diversity and cultural exchanges enrich the university experience for all students and are looking to build a community that brings everyone together from all different backgrounds and perspectives, to make the transition to university life less daunting.
Their objectives are...