i nf o rm
This year we have some truly amazing events that unite and celebrate the various cultures of students from all over the globe, held between January 25th and February
2nd 2014, in week 4 of term 2. The aim of
One World Week is to facilitate personal development and to encourage individuals to be tolerant and appreciative of the diversity of the world around them. OWW offers students a variety of different events that all aim to lend insight into different cultures and spread awareness about issues that affect our ‘One World’, and above all, it provides a platform to interact with new, diverse people.
OWW has something to offer everyone with its five elements: Days, Nights,
Forum, Conference, and Sports. Over 200 volunteers make this event possible, and the events are attended by more than 10,000 participants. Students will see campus come alive through live performances, sports tournaments, cultural exhibitions, parties, and debates. To book tickets online go to www.oneworldweek.net
Days: Highlights will include the Bazaar and Fete Market Days held in the SU atrium, which will bring together the tastes and smells of the Silk Road, with a plethora of interactive stalls exemplifying the countries’ unique heritages.
Nights: Nights is hosting the highly anticipated Fashion Show, featuring choreographed performances and costumes from around the world. Nights is also hosting the Carnival, which offers an evening of fairground games, fire-breathers and magicians.
Sports: Sports will host a series of games and sports some of which are: rugby, cricket, volleyball, and basketball, as well the popular FIFA tournament which offers the chance to win a Playstation 3 console.
Forum: Forum is hosting five talks with highly influential speakers, focusing on the topical issues of privacy, human rights, sustainability and capitalism, feminism, and race.
Conference: The Conference this year will highlight questions that are impacting our One World, such as border control and freedom of movement, corporations and the collapse of the economy.
The grand finale of One World Week 2014 will be marked by the World Party in the
Copper Rooms, and promises a fabulous end to a week of fantastic events!
Brighton Pavilion © Peter Clarke
If you want a break from University life the International Office is running seven Saturday coach trips this term.
The first one is a trip to the bohemian coastal town of Brighton on January
25th. Then on February 1st there’s a trip to Leeds, which has good museums and good shopping. On February 8th you could go to the famous university city of Oxford. If you haven’t seen
Wales yet you could go to Cardiff, its capital city, on February 15th. The week after, on February 22nd, there’s a trip to Bath, a popular tourist destination with lots to see and do. At the start of the next month, on March 1st you could come to Nottingham, known for its Robin Hood connections. The final excursion on March 8th is to
Cambridge, which is a favourite day out for many Warwick students.
Tickets for a seat on the coach cost between £12 and £18 depending on which trip you’re interested in. For more information on the towns you can go to and to buy tickets see www.warwick.ac.uk/go/ international/events/uk
Just under 100 new exchange students arrived in January as well as several new students for PhDs and for other courses.
If you’re one of these students then welcome, we hope you’re settling in to
Warwick well.

2 Inform Spring 2014
HOST
HOST is a charity which organises visits for international students studying in the UK to spend a weekend or day with voluntary hosts across Great Britain in order to promote international friendship and understanding.
In these short winter days, it can be a difficult time for many international students who may be feeling homesick.
Many students find that a weekend in a
British home to have a break from university life in a family environment can really help them feel more positive about their time in the UK. So you may want to apply for a
HOST visit for a day or a weekend. This will give you a great opportunity to experience
British life and to meet new people.
HOST know all their hosts and have been to their homes so HOST visits are safe and the hosts want you to feel welcome and at home in this country. You can go alone, with an international student friend, or with your partner/children if they are living in the
UK with you. There are hosts in every part of Britain. You tell HOST your travel budget, and they will choose a suitable host for you within budget.
See www.hostuk.org
for more information, and to apply online for an invitation. After your first application we will ask you to pay a small proportion of the fee: £10 for a weekend visit or £6 for a day visit, but the University will pay the rest of the charge.
Look out for a HOST tea party coming soon on campus where you can ask your questions to staff from
HOST and Warwick students who’ve been on HOST visits.
Claire will still be based in the International
Office and continue to work alongside immigration colleagues in her new role. A new Head of Immigration will be appointed to join the team in due course.
Zheyue Qin
Graduation
Students graduating this January who wish to invite family members to attend the ceremony are advised to check the
Home Office website for information about General Visitor Visa applications: www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visasimmigration/visiting/general Please note that the Immigration Service cannot provide invitation letters for students’ friends and family but there is a template letter on our website which you may adapt for your own use: www.warwick.ac.uk/go/ immigration/visitor/generalvisitor
Doctorate Extension Scheme
PhD students nearing the completion of their studies may be interested in the
Doctorate Extension Scheme (DES). The scheme, introduced last year, enables
Doctoral graduates to remain in the UK for
12 months to seek employment without first having accepted a job offer. There are strict criteria and the timing of your application is crucial, so if you are interested in applying, please refer to the Immigration
Service website in the first instance: www.warwick.ac.uk/go/immigration/ employment/after/doctoral
The Immigration Service can assist with your DES application. We will also be offering drop-ins and introductory information sessions for interested students
– check our website for further details.
Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur
Application deadlines for students interested in applying for leave under the Tier 1
Graduate Entrepreneur visa category will be added to our website when available.
We have also posted a sample application form which applicants applying within the UK may find helpful www.warwick.
ac.uk/go/immigration/employment/ after/#Graduate-entrepreneurs
Tier 4 visa extension applications
If your Tier 4 (General) Student visa is due to expire and you want to apply to extend your leave, the Immigration Service can help you; please read the information on our website and book an appointment to meet an adviser. www.warwick.ac.uk/go/ immigration/student/applying
International Student Barometer results
Finally, the Immigration Service is delighted to announce that we were ranked 1st out of 54 participating UK universities in the Summer 2013 wave of the International Student Barometer for
Visa Advice. Warwick’s immigration team are committed to providing our students with quality visa advice in a friendly, professional environment and are thrilled with this result.

Inform Spring 2014 3
The Students’ Union Advice Centre is one of the places on campus you can get help. We offer a free confidential service, which is independent from the University, and can help you find the answers you are looking for. The Advice team can help with a wide range of problems and if we don’t know the answer we will help you find someone who does.
Every year we help many students with all types of issues. A large part of our work is helping students make good housing choices, and in supporting students when things don’t go as planned, for example, when the landlord won’t do repairs or fails to return the deposit at the end of the contract. We also offer advice and support to do with academic issues, including advice on changing courses, temporary withdrawal and submitting mitigating circumstances. We can advocate for you and attend hearings and meetings with you if you are involved in appeals, complaints or disciplinary action.
In addition we advise on legal rights, consumer issues, employment rights, money problems, and some aspects of immigration procedures. It is impossible for us to list everything we do, so if you have a problem and can’t find the answer it is worth asking us – we may be able to help.
The Advice Team is highly qualified and experienced in providing all kinds of
The Advice Team help and advice to any student; we also pride ourselves on being friendly and approachable. Being part of the Students’
Union, the Advice Team are committed to the Union mission – creating a better experience for students at Warwick. We know that resolving a difficult problem will make your life easier and hopefully make your time at Warwick better.
For more information about the
Students’ Union Advice Centre why not take a look at our web pages. They contain lots of information on many topics – you never know you might even find the answer you are looking for! www.warwicksu.com/ advice
To contact the Advice Team you can contact us by email, telephone or by coming into the centre. Our contact details are:
E advice@warwicksu.com
t 024 7657 2824 (internal extension 72824 )
Student Advice Centre, 2nd Floor SU HQ,
Students’ Union, University of Warwick,
Coventry, CV4 7AL
We hope you have a great time at
Warwick, but if there are issues you need help with, please contact us.
Is there something that is preventing you from flourishing and achieving your potential?
Sometimes life can feel out of balance and there may be a barrier to you feeling as if you are achieving your best.
Wellbeing means different things to different people but in essence wellbeing is what keeps you well and helps you achieve the things in life that give you satisfaction. At times it can be difficult to find enjoyment or to juggle the demands that seem to be expected of us. Our stress level can be affected by many different things: our physical health, our university work, our relationships and friendships, where we live, money problems, feelings of loneliness, difficulty sleeping or concentrating etc. The balance between work, rest and play can be tricky to get right.
If you would like a short session to support you in problem solving or calming things down you can attend a wellbeing drop-in session: www.
warwick.ac.uk/go/wellbeingservice
Anything you discuss will be treated as confidential in line with data protection: this means that we will not talk to your tutors or family without your expressed permission.
There is also a range of services available to you at student support: www.warwick.ac.uk/go/ supportservices
Despite the name, you don’t have to be new to the university to join the group, which welcomes visitors as well as academics, postgraduate students, their partners and children. Although the group exists to be somewhere to come when you’re new and don’t know many people, when you don’t know where to find the things you need or how to cope with some everyday features of life in the UK, it’s also a regular meeting place for many of the group who have been at Warwick for several years, and their experience is often really helpful to newer members. The informal meetings have been the starting point for numerous friendships across disciplines, languages and cultures – and, with many former members of the group now living abroad, now across continents. For many people who have arrived at the university without knowing anyone here, the companionship of other
Newcomer group members has made all the difference in helping them settle into a new life.
It’s not important that you speak
English well (or, indeed, at all) in order to come along and take part; in fact, the harder you’re finding it to be here, the more valuable the group will be to you.
Newcomers’ coffee mornings are an ideal opportunity to develop and practise your language skills without any pressure at a pace that suits you.
The meetings are free and there’s no commitment to come more often than you want. Only the first meeting of each term is scheduled; throughout the rest of the term meetings are arranged week by week.
If you’d like to come along but have missed the first meeting, please email the group organiser, Felicity Marsh, at fy.marsh@ gmail.com

4 Inform Spring 2014
The UK has stricter laws on smoking than some other European countries.
Although anyone aged 18 or over can buy cigarettes there are strict restrictions on where they can be smoked. In particular they can’t be smoked in the workplace.
This doesn’t just mean a place you go to for work purposes but anyone’s workplace so it includes pubs, clubs, restaurants, cinemas, buses, taxis and trains. The managers of these venues are expected to stop anyone who smokes in these places and if you don’t comply you are committing a crime. If you’re not sure whether you can smoke in a particular place look for no-smoking signs and if you don’t see any ask the person in charge first.
Have you heard that the Student Reception desk is no longer in University House? It’s now in the middle of the campus to be more accessible to students, in Senate
House. You can do the usual things there like paying your fees, collecting a student status letter and submitting your thesis.
It’s the reception desk for the Graduate
School, Student Finance, Student Funding,
Warwick Accommodation, Examinations,
Undergraduate Admissions and
Postgraduate Admissions.
Bicycles can be a good means of transport: quicker than walking, greener than driving and a good way to keep fit. But if you use one make sure you ride safely so you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else. Some of these rules apply to pedestrians when they are crossing roads also.
You must never cycle after dark or in poor visibility (e.g. when there is fog) if you do not have any lights on your bicycle. For these conditions you are required to have a white front light, a red rear light, a red rear reflector and amber or yellow pedal reflectors on the front and back of each pedal. It is also wise to wear bright coloured clothing whether it’s night or day, and to have a bell. Helmets will help protect you if you come off your bike. You can use www.yell.com
to find cycle shops which sell these accessories.
Like cars, you must ride on the left hand side of the road, and go round roundabouts in a clockwise direction. You must not cycle on the pavement unless there are signs saying this is allowed, though it is perfectly acceptable to get off your bicycle and walk it round busy junctions or roundabouts using the pavement. Also, don’t listen to music or use your mobile while on your bike: you need to be able to hear traffic and to concentrate without distractions.
Are you a driver? Many international students are still driving either with no insurance or with invalid insurance as they have either failed to declare that they are on an International Licence or have insured online using the wrong details. If the police catch you, you could be banned from driving in the UK and you could face a large fine. So it makes sense to make sure your insurance details are correct. Endsleigh Insurance have an insurance policy for international drivers, though you may also wish to compare prices of other insurance providers. For a guide on driving in the UK for international students see www.ukcisa.org.uk/International-
Students/Study-work--more/Otheruseful-information/Driving
Hopefully you have registered with a doctor now, as it’s best to do this before you get ill so you can make an appointment when you do need to see a doctor. Most students use the Health Centre, which is on campus near the Students’ Union. If you have changed address since you registered, you must let your doctor have your new address so that you stay registered with them.
One of the illnesses you are most likely to get during your time here is a cold or flu, especially now the weather is colder.
When you do, unless it’s more serious than a normal cold or flu, please don’t go to see your doctor – it is better that you rest at home and have plenty of fruit juices or water than make unnecessary trips to the
Health Centre. There are some medicines that can help you feel a bit better, but you can get these from a Chemist (e.g.
M.W.Phillips in the Students’ Union). If you don’t know which one to get the staff there will be happy to advise you. Of course you will need to make sure you do not take too many tablets or the wrong ones as this can be very dangerous – always read the instructions that come with the medicine.
And don’t use antibiotics (unless prescribed to you by a Doctor) – overuse of them can lessen their effectiveness. There’s more information about colds and flu on the
Health Centre’s website at www.uwhc.org.
uk/Important-Info/Flu-and-Colds
You might also want to see this webpage: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/ checksymptoms If you are not able to attend classes because of illness you should let your department know. There is more information about health matters at www.warwick.ac.uk/go/international/ admissions/atoz/h-l/#health
The International Office
University House, University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 8UW t +44 (0)24 7652 3706 w www.warwick.ac.uk/go/international e internationalsupport@warwick.ac.uk f www.facebook.com/warwickinternationaloffice t www.twitter.com/warwickio