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OUR PUBLIC FACE Our interdependent world As we moved from the 20th to 21st century we became increasingly aware as a society the world is smaller than it used to be. Fifty years ago we put down our roots here among our local community. That very neighbourly closeness brought us together to support each other, to include, welcome and sustain families from abroad, especially South Asia. Significantly, over the past twenty years, we’ve increased our diversity. We’ve been joined by many from the Middle East and from across Europe. Our University too has welcomed many from all over the world. We’re now an international community. And for the parents of these students, Loughborough is the face of the UK!
All these widely dispersed communities are closer now than ever before. And through them, our actions in one part of the world have far-reaching influences around the globe. Put simply, awareness is growing that we live in a world where all of us, and the natural world that sustains us, are profoundly and radically connected. And our work in Equality Action mirrors this . During the transition from CREC to HREC, and latterly to Equality Action, we recognised we could and should contribute to not only an intellectual awareness of interdependence but also seek to actually feel that interconnectedness, by developing relationships with other folk beyond this borough, sharing, caring and supporting others across the UK but also in mainland Europe. Equalities come about through people, not through just ticking boxes. We took initiatives that also helped foster closer relationships with the university as it in turn achieved major international significance. The university accommodated our annual public lecture and our guest speakers have been leading national figures. We also gained direct assistance from both Chinese and European students. They helped set up and
organise an important new initiative - conferences and workshops across and beyond Europe on key issues that often challenged and divided people. We shared methods and solutions between young Leaders in these hugely different communities. In so doing we discovered what we shared in common, and what was particularly local. Another plus was that we learned what we, with typical modesty, had thought to be obvious and unexceptional, was actually something our own staff should be hugely proud of - good for morale and our own sense of self worth. Speakers at our public lectures included Karen Chouhan - described by the Rowntree Trust as ‘one of seven visionaries to change the world’, talking about cohesion, integration, and multiculturalism. The following year we welcomed Jasvinder Sanghera
