The University of Birmingham
What does “tackle the parallel living that a diverse university falls into and move towards a more unified co-existence” actually mean? UNIty’s Nazmin Begum responds.
‘Simply put, we are aiming to bring about a change within the University of Birmingham campus which will lead to a more integrated cohesive student body.
We want different ethnic backgrounds, classes, religions and cultures to be celebrated and shared, and this can only occur if students have a platform upon which to share their diverse backgrounds. In essence, although diversity is rife upon campus, this diversity is encompassed within parallel living. The move towards a more unified co-existence can be difficult without the correct platform. And this is where UNIty comes in!
UNIty will bring both an outsiders’ perspective but also an insiders’ perspective together (though the mix of our project members i.e. alumni, current students and a prospective student), and work towards the ideal of equality, participation and interaction in order to bring about a cohesive student body.
We will host a number of events that are appealing to the mass student body and aim to work with both societies and other organisations at the university in order to have a mass turnout, thus spread our message to the masses.
Prior to this however, we will make our presence felt on campus through campaigning and spreading our brand through multiple channels, with social media playing a key role. Following that, our key activities will be centred around the university’s freshers fair in October.
It is important to stress that the University of Birmingham is our pilot project; thus this is only the first phase for UNIty. Once we have brought about successful change at the University of Birmingham, we aim to look at implementing our toolkit at other higher education institutions around the West Midlands, and following that, going nationwide! Who knows? Maybe we can conquer the world!
Nazmin Begum, UNIty Founding Member’
unityuprising 