Provost's view

In contrast to the widespread confrontation and division we often see around us, from the local to the global, UCL offers a beacon of internationalism and demonstrates the value of global connections, says Dr Michael Spence

Dr Michael Spence visited the UCL community in Hong Kong in February 2023. Image: Tang Kam Hong Kenneth

Dr Michael Spence visited the UCL community in Hong Kong in February 2023. Image: Tang Kam Hong Kenneth

One of the joys of the last 12 months has been travelling and meeting with UCL alumni and partners around the world for the first time since becoming President & Provost in January 2021. I've had the pleasure of meeting alumni in New York City and Hong Kong, and I am looking forward to my visit to mainland China in May and to meeting many more alumni in the UK and on further international trips during my tenure.

UCL has a proud history of attracting the best minds from around the world. We have alumni from over 190 countries!

Welcoming the best global talent into our classrooms delivers a multitude of benefits for our students, our institution, the UK and the wider world.

For decades, this has been the cornerstone of what makes UCL such a wonderful, vibrant and diverse place to study, and means we have maintained our status as a ‘science (social science and arts and humanities) superpower’, an education leader and a highly attractive destination for the best young minds.

British companies benefit from access to talented individuals from across the globe, brimming with the fresh ideas and skills developed during the UCL degree and with diverse cultural and social perspectives and extensive global networks.

Many of UCL’s international students will at some point return to their country of origin and UK alumni may also at some point move to other parts of the world as they build their careers, taking the perspectives and networks developed at UCL with them. The eight alumni named in this year’s Forbes 30 under 30 exemplify the degree and diversity of impact our alumni have at a global level, with their work ranging from developing a floating solar farm in Indonesia, to championing early career artists in the UK and India, to operating a global streaming service for southwest Asian and north African films.

A New Year performance by the UCL Chinese Students Scholars Association

A New Year performance by the UCL Chinese Students Scholars Association

Rangeela is UCL Hindu Society's annual showcase celebrating South Asian heritage

Rangeela is UCL Hindu Society's annual showcase celebrating South Asian heritage

In honour of the Day of the Dead, UCL Mexican Society put up an offering commemorating this beautiful and important cultural tradition

In honour of the Day of the Dead, UCL Mexican Society put up an offering commemorating this beautiful and important cultural tradition

Being a diverse community also means we are also a place where a wide diversity of conflicting opinions and ideas exist and are expressed. Disagreement is the inevitable product of diversity, and I am committed to us having an open conversation about how we navigate disagreements successfully: that we can enter them with the goal of increasing understanding and emerge from them without feeling battered, censored or unchallenged in our own thinking. The uncomfortable sensation that an issue about which you have felt absolutely certain might not be so clear-cut as you thought, that you might even be wrong, is something we should all feel from time to time if we are not being shallow in our intellectual endeavours.

Disagreeing well is one of the key skills that our students should leave UCL with and which will provide them with a core building block for their subsequent professional and personal success. We’ll be organising a series of events around this idea later this year, and I do hope that you’ll join us in person or virtually for those.

What I believe our students agree on is that they enrol here attracted by the freedom UCL offers to challenge, think differently and make real-world impact.  Meeting alumni all over the world I am always pleased to hear about the ways that, following graduation, you have taken those skills and knowledge, attitude and approach out into the world. Yet you remain connected to the university and to our global alumni community. That is testament to the value that you too place on being part of a vibrant and diverse community.

Dr Michael Spence speaking at a UCL Alumni reception in New York City

Dr Michael Spence speaking at a UCL Alumni reception in New York City

Networking at a UCL Alumni reception in New York City

Networking at a UCL Alumni reception in New York City

As you can tell, I am passionate and proud about the strength that our diversity brings to our community and I am grateful for the opportunities I have had since joining UCL to engage with a wide range of ideas and opinions from alumni, supporters and partners. I am particularly grateful for the time that many of you took during 2021-22 to find out more about and feedback on the draft proposals for the UCL Strategic Plan 2022-2027, which was published in December 2022. I look forward to continuing to share ideas as we move towards the start of UCL’s third century in 2026.

Dr Michael Spence is President & Provost of UCL.

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