International culture and exchange are once again celebrated with the new cohort of Chevening scholars; and all are encouraged to ‘leave their mark’ on both Birkbeck and wider society.
On the 9th of November 2021, the International team held a Welcome event for the 2021 Chevening Scholars. The Scholars this year hail from 23 countries: Paraguay, Ethiopia, Iraq, South Africa, Nepal, Uganda, Sudan, Russia, Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia, Dominica, Bolivia, Albania, Montenegro, Georgia, Morocco, Santo Domingo, Tunisia, Peru, Ukraine, Guatemala and Laos. The International diversity of the Chevening Scholars is a pivotal part of Birkbeck’s success and this was demonstrated during the event.
Professor Kevin Ibeh, Pro Vice Master (International) opened the Welcome event by highlighting Birkbeck’s achievements over the years and emphasized to Chevening scholars the importance of leaving their mark. Professor Kevin Ibeh said: “Birkbeck will be celebrating 200 years as an institution in 2023, and you we all be part of it as you are the 198th year of students at Birkbeck University.”
There were also speeches from academics from several of the Schools including Professor Sanjib Bhakta from the School of Science, Professor Alexandra Beauregard and Andrea Williams from the School of BEI, and Dr Ali Guven from the School of SSHIP. The academics shared knowledge on their expertise. Professor Sanjib Bhakta discussed the significance of diversity and encouraged everyone to always embrace their different cultures.
The event celebrated the rich diversity of the Chevening Scholarship recipients through a Welcome to Birkbeck presentation by the international team and gave the scholars an opportunity to learn about each other’s talents, goals, and aspirations through a fun group activity. To conclude the event, the scholars enjoyed light refreshments and shared with their student journeys and advice they would give to future international students wishing to study at Birkbeck.
Nina Perunovic from Montenegro spoke about the benefits of studying at Birkbeck: “Getting to know other international students, their culture and share experiences and different approaches to the same problems is quite interesting to me”.
We look forward to celebrating and sharing more stories from our 2021 Chevening Scholars.
Further information
- More about the Chevening scholarship programme
- Read about Birkbeck’s international scholarships
- Find out more about what’s on offer for international students at Birkbeck
