Internation'ull

INTERNATION’ULL

STUDYING in any new environment brings many significant challenges. Being able to adapt to a new city or town, learning a new lifestyle, and being around a new variety of languages and accents, are just some that each year, international students coming to study in the U.K have to face.

Hull has a vast student population, estimated at around 20,000 students, and each year the city welcomes more new faces to study from all over the world.

Hull as a city itself is becoming more diverse to new ethnicities and communities, in both student and non-student varieties. Over the last twenty years, the city has seen a boom in terms of how much it has grown immersing many nationalities and new communities into its mosaic.

In 1991, figures showed that there was a population of just 1.9% people from ethnic minority backgrounds living in the city. Ten years later, and that figure had risen slightly to 3.8%. Now, Hull has the most diverse population in the Humber area, as of 2009, that figure had increased dramatically to 10.9%.

In comparison with other communities and cities across the U.K, Hull has fewer minority backgrounds in its population, but as an ever changing scenario occurring with overseas students coming to study and settle in the region, that figure could soon be changed.

With the price of becoming a student edging closer to being unfeasible for some across the U.K, many universities are relying on the extra income from overseas students to apply and fill vacancies. Last year, the number of applications to universities fell by 8.7% for the 2012 entry. However, across the U.K, universities have seen an increase in applicants from non-European countries, with an increase of 15.7%, with Hong Kong and Australasia having the highest number of applicants.

These figures show that, with an increase as high as this from overseas students, Hull will be hoping to accommodate a percentage of these to ensure the university places are taken up.

Both the University of Hull and Hull College saw a drop in the region of 17% for applicants for the year of 2012 compared to 2011, and this would be something that they would hope to rectify using the influx of overseas students.

With the current Hull student population reaching a spectrum of over 130 countries, the city of Hull and its people have an opportunity to embrace and learn from the multicultural diversity that this brings. Increasing attractions such as the German food markets that have visited the city centre provide an ideal chance to experience some of the commodities that other countries can bring to the city.

As students flock to Hull each year from overseas, and from our own shores, it is a vital boost for the local economy in both the short and long term, as their expenditure adds much needed revenue to local businesses. The universities and education providers in the city are also in much need of overseas students to keep some courses running that are more popular with international students.

With a large number of foreign nationals choosing to settle in the region, the influx of international students is sure to have an impact on how the city evolves in the future.  

Approximately 3300 people migrated internationally to Hull between 2009 and 2010. Figures such as this are only likely to increase in the future, with Hull having a projected population of nearly 318,000 within the next twenty years.

As the communities within Hull change, it is in the best interests of the city of Hull and its people, to welcome overseas and internationals coming into the city to study and to live, as they are the corner stones of what is giving Hull and its people cultural awareness to an ever increasing diverse city.

By Jason Russell