What is Durham like for international students?

Hi!
I’ve received an offer from Durham for the BA geography course but I still have my doubts. Mainly because I’ve heard the issues in terms of diversity, classism, and the poor state of the accommodations at the colleges. Even though I’m an international student, my family isn’t incredibly wealthy. I also come from a Southeast Asian background but was raised in the Middle East so I don’t quite know if i would fit in even with students from my country. I’ve also heard international students say that the British students can be unfriendly and unwilling to make friends with international students. If anyone could share their experience, it would be greatly appreciated!

-For context, I’m deciding between Durham and Bristol in case I don’t get an offer from Cambridge

Reply 1

Anonymous #2

hiya, i go to a similar uni to durham, having got an offer there but eventually turned it down mostly (but not wholly) b/c of the reputation. i've visited durham a couple of times since to see my friends and i can say that there are a lot more international students than i thought, but the majority of them do seem to stick to each other. that's not exactly a durham-specific thing though, it's common in any university including my own, and i wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad thing because it's a natural result of sharing languages and similar customs, which make day to day life easier.

for example: my south east asian friend found her 1st year really stressful b/c she had to live in college where people didn't bother much about hygiene and were loud in the hallways at night during parties, which she wasn't expecting from her previous lifestyle.

that said, there's lots of different types of international students so i can't really generalise --- if you join a society or go to events and talk to people there, i'm sure you'll find people are really friendly !!

lastly:

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bristol and durham are pretty similar reputation-wise

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geography is a particularly notorious in terms of the classism / rich white alpha male type, so if i were you i'd join a society and try to make friends there rather than the lectures

Reply 2

Anonymous #2

sorry just gonna add another thing lol - i think the main difference between durham and bristol in your context is the location of the campus. whilst i said that the student body at durham is reasonably diverse (every good university in the uk is), the local population is really, really not. it's a small rural town and if you're used to more of a city life where there's shops and cafes and stuff, then bristol could be a lot better

Reply 3

Durham Rep Ghala

Official Rep

Original post by Anonymous #1

Hiya,

I'm also an International Student that grew up in the Middle East so I definitely understand your worries. While each experience at Durham is quite different, from my experience local students are quite welcoming and friendly. Yes, you will get the occasional unfriendly person but that's not an experience exclusive to Durham.
There are quite a lot of international students from South East Asia who grew in the Middle East so I can guarantee you will not be alone, there are also so many student societies such as International Students Association where you can meet other international students from all over the world! Also, from my experience, colleges also have Societies for international students to meet within College. Hill Colleges (Stephenson, Josephine Butler, South, John Snow, Van Mildert, etc) tend to have better accommodation as it's newer and more updated, the rooms are quite clean and the accommodation in Hill Colleges is said to be better so if state of accommodation is particularly important to you, maybe lean towards Hill Colleges than Bailey. Also, Hill colleges like South and John Snow tend to have more international students.

Generally, my experience at Durham has been amazing 🙂 I've met some incredible people and had so many opportunities to thrive and grow. If you'd like to hear from more international students about their experience, you can chat to some of our students on UniBuddy.
Unibuddy – Chat with a student from Durham University - Durham University

I wish you the best of luck and I hope this helps 🙂

-Ghala