Meet St George's Associate Deans for International Students
Published: 29 May 2020
As well as having academic responsibilities, Dr Ferran Valderrama and Professor Priscilla Harries are both Associate Deans for International Students at St George’s. Ferran and Priscilla explain what their roles ordinarily involve, and the work they are now completing on behalf of international students in light of Covid-19 - including a weekly forum that all international students are welcome to attend.
Ferran begins, “Ordinarily my role as an Associate Dean for international students is to take care of international student mobility. We are developing several initiatives to offer St George’s students the possibility to complement their academic activities with experience abroad.
“An example of that is our Erasmus+ programme. It is a European initiative that allows home, EU and international students to study abroad in Europe.
“I also look after our incoming international students and, together with Priscilla, we have created the International Education Advisory Group where we work, in collaboration with staff and students, to develop initiatives that promote international students and international mobility.”
Priscilla adds, “My role is to look after student education development. St George’s is very keen to expand internationalisation. This includes broadening our portfolio of programs that are of interest to international students as well as attracting additional international students onto current programs.
“International students are a fantastic addition to our cultural and academic environment. We want to ensure that they are well supported to undertake their studies with us and that we support them in their future careers as our wonderful alumni.”
With Covid-19 having paused typical day-to-day activities, work has been adapted to support our community of international students remotely.
Ferran continues, “We’ve been working with Shanshan Zhang and Elizabeth Witter in the International Office to develop activities to support our international students by maintaining a sense of community as well as keeping them motivated and engaged with their studies.
“For the last six weeks, we have been running the International Students’ Forum - an informal weekly support session for international students via Microsoft teams on Wednesdays at 13.00 BST. I’d like to thank those students who have already attended the meetings, and I would encourage students who are yet to attend to utilise the support network during this rather unconventional period.
“All undergraduate and postgraduate international students - including non-UK resident EU students - have been added as members. Membership gives students access to information related to the outcomes of our International Students’ Forum sessions as well as other relevant documents.
“We are both members of the University’s Education and Students Strategy Committee and the Student Senate where we work on developing initiatives that support internationalisation, international students and international mobility.
“Importantly, our advice to the University is always based on direct interaction with our international student community that we consult on a regular basis, either formally at the International Education Advisory Group – where international students represent almost a third of the membership – or more informally via initiatives like the International Students’ Forum.
“We really are looking forward to continuing our work with all our international students to ensure St George’s continues to thrive as an institution that welcomes students from all over the world!"
Professor Priscilla Harries and Dr Ferran Valderrama