Our Art, Architecture, Design and Humanities students embrace cultural diversity during Global Week

Our students immersed themselves in a vast array of cultures at this year’s Global Week.

Yodit Mehari (right) representing Eritrea

The annual event, which took place from 25 February to 1 March, celebrates the vast array of cultures at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), home to approximately 2,600 international students from over 100 different countries.

Eritrean BSc (Hons) Construction Management student Yodit Mehari told us: “My favourite thing about NTU is diversity. It’s very welcoming and the people are very warm and friendly.”

Rasha Kotaiche (right) at Global Week

Rasha Kotaiche, our MA Photography student of Lebanese heritage added: “The best thing about Global Week this year was making more friends and dancing with them in the middle of Newton, along to one of the guys drumming.

“My favourite thing about NTU in general is the community. Seeing everyone come together to celebrate other cultures and feeling happy and comfortable to share their heritage is beautiful.”

Throughout the week, students from across the globe represented their countries through performances, cultural stalls, traditional foods, art, dance, music and workshops.

Daniel Sampaio, first year BA (Hons) Product Design student told us: “I’m really proud of being from Brazil, because it’s such a diverse country. Global Week has been a good way to meet other people from my country, and people from other countries. I was able to teach others about my culture, and learn about other cultures too.”

Adele Werner on the USA stand

North American BSc (Hons) Real Estate student Adele Werner commented: “Being an international student at NTU has been really fun so far. Getting to be a part of Global Week has been great as I’ve been able to meet people who have also travelled to study in the UK from other countries.”

Originally from Bahrain, Nader Haider, second year BA (Hons) English and History student remarked: “I noticed that a lot of people had never even heard of my country before. So, I wanted to share my country and culture with everyone else, and hopefully introduce them to something new.”

Dr Cheryl Rounsaville, NTU’s Global Student Experience Manager, added: “As part of the Connecting Globally theme of our current university strategy we aim to create a vibrant multinational community that is inclusive, values diversity, and nurtures global citizenship.

"Through Global Week, we celebrate the different cultural heritages of our students and staff as integral to the life of the University, and provide opportunities for students to extend their international outlook and understanding of global issues. This event contributes to a truly global experience for all of our students.”

Published on 6 March 2019

Subject area: Art and design
Category: Current students; School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment; School of Art & Design; School of Arts and Humanities