Diversity celebrated at student-led Festival of Cultures in Chichester

Wafiqat is currently on a 20-week placement with the International Advice team at the university. As part of her placement Wafiqat had to plan and deliver an event to celebrate diversity and culture at the University. The university has international students from over 20 countries around the world from Australia to Brazil and India to South Africa, with many students from China.

Talented students provided a musical soundtrack to the event, which took place on Wednesday 12 March. Lecturers and students joined forces for a live fashion show and interactive games were on offer from a number of the societies at the university, including the Afro-Caribbean Society, the K-Pop and Culture Society, the Arts and Crafts Society and the International Society. A number of international students took the opportunity to showcase their own traditional clothing with the ‘best-dressed’ picking up a special prize.

Wafiqat said: “My role was to create a fun event celebrating all the diverse cultures and diversity of the students and teachers at the university. I collaborated with a few cultural societies who put on fun and interactive activities for the event. I also liaised with some food vendors too and a couple of music students performed at the event. Planning this event for my university has been really fun and an eye opener into the future career that I would like to pursue. It went better than anyone could’ve imagined and I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to plan an event like this.”

Päivi Leivo de Lacy, International Advice Manager at the University of Chichester said: “We are very proud of our diverse community at the University of Chichester where we welcome students from around the world to study with us every year. The Festival of Cultures was brilliantly organised by Wafiqat and we’ve received some great feedback from our students about the event.”