As a business owner representing my company at a trade show in Dubai, I was approached by a man “You are from the UK? I love the UK. I am from Lebanon. I went to university in Manchester – it was the best three years of my life!’
Conversely: On a sales trip to China I met a woman who told me she hated the UK: “The British people are not friendly, only like drinking. I studied in the UK, but I never made any British friends, only Chinese friends.”
This is an Opportunity in soft power:
There are many thousands of young students paying to come and study in the UK every year. We have an opportunity to extend British soft power by introducing them to UK values, showing them a good time and returning them home as anglophiles, forever looking kindly on us and on our nation.
We are a global leader in education and we attract students of the highest calibre who are well placed to rise to positions of influence in their home countries. We should not miss this opportunity to make a good impression on them.
I propose a government supported program be set up – a cultural outreach programme to aid the social integration of foreign students into British student life and to provide cultural activities which will serve to highlight British values, learn about British history and our fight for Liberty.
This outreach programme should be targeted at all foreign students to aid their integration.
We have only a short time to make an impression on these students before they return home. It would be remiss of us to miss this opportunity.
1623-11