The Friendie – Selfies with International Students take the SU by storm

President Buckle wants to lobby parliament… with a touch of myspace.


The students’ union has launched a campaign to raise awareness of people being friends with international students.

Ally Buckle with Malaka Mohammed, from Palestine

Stand By Me, launched by the University and Students’ Union, is a project aimed at tackling the government’s anti-migrant talk and frosty attitude towards foreign students.

The idea is that two friends of different nationalities take a selfie and upload it to an online collection to demonstrate the tremendous number of international friendships within the University community and beyond.

Friends will also submit a short description of their relationship explaining their nationalities, how they first met, and how long they have been friends.

In a statement to the University, SU President Ally Buckle called on students to take their own photos. He said: “If you have a friend from another country, and you care about protecting their right to be here, then we want you to send us a selfie with them, accompanied by a short explanation of your friendship.

“We will use these in a campaign that will tell the politicians that for every international student or staff member that they undervalue, there is a UK friend that is willing to fight their corner.”

 

Buckle told The Tab “The project is our way of saying to policy-makers that international students are more than just numbers in net migration targets, they are valued members of our community that enrich everyone’s education.”

Buckle told reporters that the idea of posing for selfies with came up when they were figuring out how to make an emotional appeal to Parliament that could go viral.

“It was created over a coffee, where we were discussing how we can make an emotional argument for our international students, which is a surprisingly easy thing to forget when the plain economics of them studying here makes so much sense.

“We’re hoping that it will go viral, and in doing so we hope that it will make politicians realise there is more to welcoming international students than they think!”

Students have been overall positive about the campaign. 1st year business student Gigi, from Munich, said: “I love taking selfies and I’ve loved hanging out with all the students I’ve met so far, International or English.

Screen Shot 2014-02-25 at 17.52.12 Sheffield Uni is home to over 25,000 students from 120 countries

“I think language barriers can still be a big issue and it may be why some students find it harder to intergrate but I’m very lucky to have taken my GCSE’s and A-levels in the UK and spoken English fluently since I was little so I’ve not been afraid of getting stuck in!”

On the other hand, 2nd-year historian John says language barriers stopped him from making many international friends. He said: “When I was living in Endcliffe last year we had a few international students from Malaysia on our floor. I think it was a combination of a bit of a language barrier and different interests socially that meant we didn’t get to talk as much as we’d have all liked.

“I don’t really have friends because of circumstantial stuff like that. We were all very chatty at the start of the year but I guess it’s just one of those things.”

The pictures used on campus may even be taken to the Houses of Parliament.

To upload your own selfie email [email protected] and don’t forget to share it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #standbyme.