How the University of Westminster is expanding global opportunities for students

These are the words of MD Khalid, a final year Law student who spent a week in Washington DC as part of our Westminster Working Cultures programme.

Across our sector there is a drive to increase and widen participation in international opportunities. We know the impact of gaining experience in another country is transformative. The challenge we all face is how to ensure that as many students as possible benefit from this. In particular, how to inspire, encourage and support those who are most under-represented.

Here at the University of Westminster, Global Engagement is one of the four objectives of our ‘Being Westminster’ institutional strategy. Our aim is to double the number of students studying or working abroad by 2026. We would also like the demographics of the participating students to more closely reflect the population of our university. Many Westminster students are from backgrounds that traditionally face increased barriers to going abroad. Many are often under-represented in these activities.

So how can we tackle this issue? At our Global Mobility Conference 2024 in Lancaster we will be exploring ten approaches we can take to solving this problem, and we're sharing a preview of some of these below.

1. Working cross-institutionally helps to secure institutional buy-in

Launching a new mobility initiative for students can be challenging. How do you set up the programme and get students on board? In recent years, we have created several new opportunities for students. It takes dedication, trial and error and – critically - buy-in from colleagues across the University to establish a new programme.

Include academic and professional service colleagues both in designing the programme and promoting it to students and, where possible, aim to bring on board at least one member of senior leadership to champion the initiative. Having supporters across the institution has meant that new initiatives like the Global Experience Bursary and Westminster Working Cultures have taken off. 

Westminster Working Cultures

Westminster Working Cultures (WWC) International provides fully funded week-long international opportunities for our students. It gives them the chance to experience work insights and employment culture in some of the world's major cities. Designed and run from the Alumni Relations Office, WWC utilises our alumni and partner networks. WWC participants, many of whom come from under-represented and disadvantaged backgrounds, explore a range of industries, build their global networks and develop their soft skills. In 2023/24, eight trips to a range of destinations will support 160 students to have an international employability experience.  

2. Providing a diverse range of accessible international options helps widen participation

Each student has different needs and challenges when accessing international experience. For some, a longer, more structured experience at a partner institution will appeal. Others may only feel able to commit to a week abroad and will need the opportunity to be fully-funded. It is important to offer a range of durations, destinations and placement types as well as individual and group trips. In addition to WWC, Westminster offers fully-funded academic field trips, semester and year-long exchanges and work placements, international summer schools and a host of shorter international experiences funded through our Global Experience Bursary. 

Westminster Global Experience Bursary

Our Global Experience Bursary ensures that all students, regardless of their programme of study or personal situation, can apply for funding for international experience. The Bursary is flexible, supporting all enrolled students to go abroad for a period of longer than five days over the spring/summer. Students can apply for whatever interests them. From short-term study or research to international work and volunteering opportunities. It is truly global in scope and puts the students’ international aspirations at the forefront. The scheme is funded through the University's Distant Horizons budget and where appropriate, the Turing Scheme. Since its launch in 2022 we have supported over 220 students to go to over 50 countries.

We would also love to hear what colleagues across the sector are doing. Please share your experiences in our Padlet, which we will show during the session.   

To close, we wanted to share some final words from Bekir, a first year BA Arabic student who participated in both Westminster Working Cultures and the Global Experience Bursary.

It is impact like this that drives us to do what we do. We look forward to connecting with you at the Global Mobility conference in Lancaster on 20 February.