Leacsaidh Marlow (Impact)
Student Action for Refugees (STAR), established by a Nottingham student in 1994, is now a national group of student leaders and activists. Groups across UK universities advocate for the support and protection of refugees and asylum seekers.
Impact spoke with the University of Nottingham STAR society about the incredible work they do- from fundraising and spreading awareness, to running language classes and social events.
Interviewed in April, Sarah Pereira, 2024/25 UoN STAR President, conveyed the importance of the work the group does and how it’s grown in the 30 years since its inception.
What is STAR and what does the group do?
We are Student Action for Refugees, a charity society that holds English classes for refugees. Last year we took on fundraising as well, which we have expanded through collaborations with other societies.
Can you tell me about some of the things that STAR at UoN has been up to this year?
This year has been quite a busy one as we have been lucky enough to have a large increase in membership. We have also been able to expand our women’s classes along with increasing our fundraising efforts! As part of this we have collaborated with other societies for our fundraising efforts – it is wonderful seeing so many people come together for a meaningful cause.
For refugees and asylum seekers, those early connections can shape how they feel about their new home for years to come
Why is it so important that students be a part of the support system for refugees and asylum seekers?
Getting students involved in supporting refugees and asylum seekers is incredibly fulfilling for everyone involved. Helping people feel welcomed and included in the community creates a long-lasting impact; these gestures – helping someone learn the language, showing them around, or just being a friendly face – leave a deep impression. For refugees and asylum seekers, those early connections can shape how they feel about their new home for years to come.
On the flip side, it’s also eye-opening for students. Students get a first-hand understanding of a group of people who often feel disconnected from the community, and that kind of experience can really build empathy and understanding, and break down stereotypes in a way you just can’t get within the classroom.
Overall, it helps build a stronger, more connected community, and students have the opportunity to grow as compassionate, socially aware humans in the process.
Is there anything you think students offer in terms of support/things we’re better at that others can’t offer/aren’t as good at?
Students bring a lot of enthusiasm and energy, which helps create a welcoming and uplifting environment. We also often have more flexibility in our schedules than people with full-time jobs, meaning we can be consistently available for our weekly classes, helping build trust and routine for the people we support.
Furthermore, as many students are in a stage of life marked by openness and curiosity, they foster meaningful cultural exchange and build genuine connections. The ability to relate to younger refugees or their families can create a sense of comfort and inclusion that complements more traditional support systems.
What’s been your favourite event/project this year?
One of the highlights of this year for me has been our women’s English classes, which are specifically tailored to support and empower women in our community. I’m incredibly proud to share that, after being held just once a week for several years, these classes have now expanded to three times a week. We’ll also be running a class over the summer, which is a wonderful step forward.
It truly warms my heart to see how the local community has grown to feel comfortable and connected with us, allowing this initiative to flourish. I’m also very hopeful about the future, as our incoming committee is deeply dedicated to supporting as many people in need as possible. I’m confident that this project will continue to grow and make a meaningful impact in the years ahead.
Impact also spoke with Andrew Fisher, professor of Philosophy at UoN, who is part of the steering group for the ‘University of Sanctuary’ here at Nottingham. They work closely with their student counterpart STAR.
For him, universities should recognise partnerships with student advocate groups as mutually beneficial in order to make a real difference.
What is ‘Universities of Sanctuary’ and what are the key goals of your network?
Universities of Sanctuary is a national organisation, and it’s basically a way to recognise and encourage active support for sanctuary seekers, in particular, refugees and asylum seekers. It allows universities to talk amongst each other and encourages us to provide practical support, targeted outreach, training and awareness. We partnered with Nottingham Trent University to apply for this mark, and that’s great because we can pull a lot of resources across 2 institutions in the city. Ultimately, it’s a great way of recognising and also facilitating change.
They’re like the hands and feet of the university in the community
What is your connection with STAR and how do you work with them/student committees?
So firstly, the STAR work is brilliant. It’s an amazing bit of work that shows that students aren’t just having lots of parties and doing all the stereotypical things that you see in the media. In my experience with working with students for 22 years, they’re just good and they want to help and they want to make a difference and they’re part of the conscience of the university – they’re like the hands and feet of the university in the community. Those of us working in this steering group are academics primarily, but these students are part of our discussions about management in the university. They have a voice in our plans but it also means that when we as university leaders get requests from say the Red Cross or from local charities about help, we can facilitate that by talking to STAR – it’s a sort of mutual support.
Why do you think it is so important that higher education Institutions are actively supportive of refugees and asylum seekers?
I think the first question I’d ask is why wouldn’t they be? To not be welcoming environments totally undermines the whole nature of education. It’s important that we’re very mindful of this group of people, because they’re often forgotten about and marginalised – we need to know what they need, so that we can encourage them into university, support them and ensure that we are unlocking other opportunities. It’s important for the individuals to be able to flourish, and it’s important for academics, I think, because academics genuinely want to help the community – they really have a sense of conscience and for reaching out and supporting. It’s a way of sort of marketing the university to people who perhaps don’t really realise it’s actually for them.
Where do universities tend to fall short, i.e. what could we be doing better?
Firstly, financial support. This is particularly problematic because the universities sector is suffering financially, and it’s very noticeable in things like scholarship bursaries and hardship funding.
Another less obvious area is data, and identifying students who might be facing problems – right now we don’t know where these people are and the communication stream doesn’t work. For example, if I’m an academic running a lecture, it might be really neat to know if someone has a certain background, demographic, etc. and that information is not conveyed whatsoever. Generally if you want to proactively provide bespoke support you need to know who’s in front of you.
We teach people in a blanket fashion irrespective of their individual needs
Thirdly, teaching. There’s little awareness that you have to be an adaptive teacher, acknowledging who’s in front of you? If you’re a doctor you wouldn’t just prescribe something to someone without even asking them what’s wrong with them, yet we teach people in a blanket fashion irrespective of their individual needs. And that’s particularly hard for some groups of students, especially if you haven’t come from the UK education system.
There’s also other things like the hidden curriculum in teaching, throwaway remarks that assume a certain background, the examples that you use, the pictures you use, etc. all that stuff creates a certain environment and I think some students are going to be more affected than others.
Andrew and Sarah have crafted a beautiful picture of what we hope universities can be and achieve in their support for asylum seeking and refugee students, and the work that is going on behind the scenes to put higher education institutions at the forefront of this community building and support.
Leacsaidh Marlow
Beyond the Campus is a collaborative reporting project involving over 20 students from 4 student publications in Nottingham and Birmingham. Impact, Redbrick, Platform and Lingo have joined forces to combat negative student stereotypes by spotlighting the ways they give back to their local communities.
Featured image courtesy of Ra Dragon via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In article image courtesy of @recrunuon via Instagram. No changes were made to these images.
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