City turned 125 years old, topped the green leagues and hosted a royal in the Campus Life 2019 review.

Published (Updated )

1. Always count on your CityBuddy

Acknowledging that homesickness can be a big problem for university students, first year student Viviene Marie Dela Cruz and fourth year student, Farah Said, (BEng/MEng, Electrical and Electronic Engineering), highlighted the CityBuddies scheme as a way to combat loneliness.

Speaking on the benefits of the scheme, Viviene said: “CityBuddies provides an opportunity to make a friend before you arrive at university, which is often the most difficult part.

“Farah and I were CityBuddies for week, but after that we became friends. You don’t feel alone or nervous anymore when you realise that your CityBuddy is a friend.”


2. City students in front row for royal visit

Around 1,000 students, staff and members of the public crowded into Northampton Square to get a glimpse of Her Royal Highness Duchess of Sussex's visit to City for her first engagement as Patron of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU).

Two MA Journalism students got the chance to be Royal Correspondents for the day and many more stood by the entrance to get a picture.

Sonia Aulakh, (LLB Law) said: "I felt so excited to see her here at our university!

"She is such a big ambassador for education so it is so cool that they chose to come to City as it makes us feel proud that we chose to study at City too!”


3. Hero rugby captain champions campaign for mental health

After losing his father after his first exam at City, now graduated with a first in Law, Ed Armitage and former captain of City Men’s Rugby Team, told his story and why you should always seek help.

Ed said: “You hear all these things about having to toughen up or man up, but in reality that gets you nowhere. I turned to my teammates and friends for help, as you cannot deal with these things alone.

“I feel like with because rugby is considered a manly sport, I think this is a good place to start with mental health.

“If other students see that the rugby team, or the rugby captain, the vice-captain or the rugby committee are addressing mental health then it may encourage other young men or students to address those issues as well.”

The video was shared by England Rugby and former England Rugby captain Matt Dawson.


4. Rediscovered prints bring the Sixties back to City

A series of posters advertising shows at City for bands like The Who, Traffic and The Soft Machine during the late sixties were rediscovered.

Brian Burns, an engineering student who graduated from The City University, as City was known in 1969, was part of the poster department in the Students’ Union and designed prints for some of the university’s most iconic music nights.

Brian said: “City hosted some great bands back in the Sixties. They would come and play for many dances and Balls in The Great Hall on campus or in the dining hall at The Northampton Hall, which was the old halls of residence.”


5. "I wanted to show the world that Africa has heroes too."

Launch Lab resident told his story and why it is important for everyone to be able to see superheroes who look like them.

Ziki Nelson, (MA Creative Writing, 2015) said: “You have all these superheroes and there are no superheroes from Africa. The idea that they couldn’t have a hero who represented their own local culture struck me as off.

“I don’t think we would be where we are now without the support that I have had from the City enterprise team because that helped me evolve much more quickly as an entrepreneur and in refining my business concept. The mentorship gave me an environment where I could flourish."

Now selling 4,000 comic anthologies per year and with an estimated readership of 2,500 people across 20 different countries, Kugali allows African writers to tell African stories.


6. City named greenest university in London

City topped the London green leagues and finishes joint fifth nationally in the People & Planet’s University League Table.

The league which appraises a universities sustainable effort by their environmental and ethical performances positioned City eight places higher than its nearest London competitor.

Focusing on 13 areas including waste and recycling, energy sources, sustainable food and carbon reduction, City scored an average of 66% equating a 1st class award.


7. City turns 125 years old

City Celebrated its Foundation Day, commemorating an illustrious past, present and exciting future.

The day Marked 125 years since a foundation stone was laid to start construction of the Northampton Institute in 1894, the City Icons award ceremony recognised some of the key figures in both City’s history and modern day.

The glitz and glamour ceremony saw President Professor Sir Paul Curran and award-winning journalist and City alumna, Samira Ahmed present prizes to 15 individuals for their outstanding contributions to City in six categories; community, enterprise, education, partnership, innovation and research.


8. City students help the fight against knife crime

As part of the charity, StreetDoctors, third year student Aoife Scanlan, (BSc Children’s Nursing) and second year student Rachel Moisan, (BSc Adult Nursing), visited schools and youth centres across North-East London, teaching first-aid to 11-25 year olds who are at risk of experiencing youth violence.

StreetDoctors is a charity dedicated to teaching life-saving skills to young people who are at most risk of experiencing knife crime.
Aoife said: “A lot of the kids do not trust authority figures, whether that be the police, teachers or anyone older than them. We have to help them get past their preconceived ideas, some even being that if they call the police or an ambulance, their phones will be tracked.

“That is why StreetDoctors is so important, as we are there to reassure them and talk to them as people who are closer to their age group without any judgement.

9. City signs partnership with Santander

City signed a new three-year extension worth up to nearly £350,000 with Santander Universities UK.

Part of the funding will continue to be used to enable Widening Participation students to travel to South-East Asia on a leadership programmes where they are tasked with solving a current global issue.

Nuria Recio Dos Santos, (BSc Accounting and Finance): “It is so encouraging to see that this partnership will allow other students who are like me to travel, develop themselves and achieve more than they ever believed they could.”


10. City students join the pledge to make Islington carbon neutral by 2030

City Starters Weekend called upon students to pitch their business concepts on how they can help make the borough of Islington carbon neutral by 2030 and connect local people to good jobs.

As part of the challenge the campus was recreated into a vision of what Islington in 2030 could look like, with displays including virtual holiday pods, driverless cars, urban jungles and a ‘plant & chips’ takeaway shop.

Guest judge Cllr Asima Shaikh said: “It was fantastic to see so many brilliant and inspiring ideas come out of this competition.

“I’m really excited to see what this talented group of students can do with these ideas – congratulations again to everyone who took part.”

City, University of London Men's Rugby Team - Tackling Mental Health
“I wanted to show the world that Africa has heroes too.”