University of Bristol Students’ Union (UBU) received ‘Runner up: highly commended’ in the category for ‘Excellence in International Student Support’ at the NUS Internationalisation Awards on Thursday 7 March.

The awards are designed to reward best practice within universities and students’ unions and recognise some of the hard work that unions and officers put into supporting international students.

UBU received recognition for work undertaken last year that provided a tailored programme of welcome events and activities for international students.

The programme was established by UBU in partnership with the University of Bristol and external stakeholders to support the 500 pre-sessional students attending the University’s Centre for English Language and Foundation Studies during the summer in 2012.

In collaboration with the University’s International Office and Centre for English Language and Foundation Studies, UBU organised activities and designed a calendar of events so pre-sessional students were able to socialise with students from other cultures, familiarise themselves with the city/country, understand UBU and feel welcomed and supported.

UBU also ensured that the on-campus Info Point remained open over the summer so that pre-sessional students had a central place to go for advice and information, extended the peer-mentoring scheme and specifically recruited and trained students who would be available as mentors over the summer.

The success of the scheme has meant specific resources will now be allocated to the services in 2013 to continue supporting pre-sessional students in the future. A report on the pre-sessional students programme can be found at www.ubu.org.uk/about/impact.