A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The week started with a Sports Tournament on Sunday morning where members participated in four events: futsal, badminton, basketball and table tennis, which are sports originating from as far apart as China and Uruguay.
This was followed in the evening by the CSSA Chinese Gala to celebrate Chinese New Year, which occurs every Chinese Lunar New Year in February. The event incorporated lion dancing, a Chinese orchestra and martial arts and displayed authentic Chinese costumes to bring Chinese culture to life.
On Monday evening, the ISA Cultural Performance took place at York’s Grand Opera House. This featured over 200 performers with acts representing over 15 regions and countries, including Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Thai and Lithuanian societies. The evening also offered audience participation as they had to vote for their top three acts, choosing China, Turkey and Korea being as the top three
The ISA Pageant, Mr and Ms. International 2011, took place in Wentworth on Tuesday. Only in its second year, the pageant saw ten contestants dress in the traditional and modern wear of their country, as well as participating in the talent round. Countries included China, Ghana, Mexico, Libya and Poland and acts were judged by both the audience and a judging panel, with Raja Shah Irshad of Malaysia being crowned Mr International and Ms International Kamolchanok Hongthong of Thailand.
On Wednesday, the Turkish and Azerbaijan Society organised a public lecture "Conflicts in the South Caucasus", delivered by Dr Tamara Dragadze, a political anthropologist with over 40 years of study experience in the Caucasus Region. The lecture covered the collapse of Soviet Union, post & on-going conflicts in the region and external factors, giving an insight into the issues which affect the region today.
This was followed in the evening by the International Bar Quiz in Derwent Bar, testing competitors’ knowledge of international movies, music and geography.
The International Dance Workshop took place on Thursday and included lessons in belly-dancing, Bollywood dancing and salsa to bring flair and fun to International Week. There was also a craft workshop, which was Romanian Soc’s first event as a society, where you could make a Martisor, which is a small handmade gift, ranging from a bracelet to a doll, given to Romanian women on 1st March as a symbol of the beginning of spring.
Free language classes were offered throughout the week at beginner’s level to encourage students to learn a new language and broaden their horizons.
Film screenings were also offered daily free of charge and included Ran (Japanese), The Bicycle Thief (Italian) and Das Leben der Anderen (German).
At the International Beverage Festival on the Thursday evening, societies offered drinks from around the world, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and showed how their national drinks are made. Friday saw the International Conference take place for the first time, with the aim of sharing views about global issues and getting responses from students. Amit Sinha, from Students for a Smarter Planet, spoke about creating a smarter planet using technology, Stevi Jackon addressed Gender, Intimacy and Modernity in East Asia, David Attwell talked about Literary Studies in the Age of Globalisation and Mike Savage looked at mass migration and the meaning of belonging.
The week was rounded off by Fiesta and the International Light-up on Saturday evening. Fiesta offered both international and British students the opportunity to try experience cuisine, music and dance from all over the world. It included 18 food stalls which included food from Czech Republic, Latin America, Scandinavia, Greece, Vietnam, Africa and Arabia. Then 100 flying Chinese lanterns were launched, lighting up the skies and marking the end of a successful and enjoyable International Week.
Leslie Tay, from the International Students Association, told The Yorker that “overall, the week went really well. We had more events this year with more societies than before involved.” The only major problem came with the sound system at the theatre.
Tay praised the team of volunteers who helped throughout the week and all the national and culture societies involved.
However, Tay admitted there are areas for improvement, saying “I personally feel that International Week is still not striking enough interest home students” and he hopes to attract a wider range of participants next year.
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