Students and staff from The University of Queensland’s School of Veterinary Science (SVS) and School of Agricultural Sciences (SAFS) recently took part in a talent festival, with the aim of promoting cultural diversity on the Gatton Campus.
The event was organised by Associate Professor Joerg Henning, who is the international student mentor and the Director of Students and Admissions at SVS.
Dr Henning said the intention for the festival was to build trust, respect, and understanding between students from a variety of different cultural backgrounds.
“We want to make ‘cultural diversity’ more than just a buzz word – we want to shape the future of working and living together,” Dr Henning said.
“Not only is it a nice way of bringing people together from a diverse set of backgrounds and cultures, it’s also been shown that cultural diversity promotes creativity, high-level thinking, and collaboration in classroom settings.
“One way of expressing and showcasing cultural diversity is through creative performances, and this is where the idea for the talent festival came about.
“The talent festival is an example of how a holistic campus experience for students at Gatton campus can be achieved, which enhances the living and study conditions for students on campus.”
After two successful SVS cultural diversity and talent festivals in 2018 and 2019, like many things, the popular event was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
Dr Henning said this made 2022’s festival felt all the more special.
“This year we celebrated the talent festival for the first time as a Gatton-wide event, open to all international and domestic SVS and SAFS students and UQ staff,” Dr Henning said.
“We had about 85 students attend this year’s festival, which was a terrific turnout and showed how much of a desire there was to connect with their cohort and classmates.
“Ten amazing performers showed their talents, which ranged from musical and comedy performances to poetry slam.
“This was all capped off by delicious international foods.”
Ian Kei Ho (Fiona), a current fifth year Bachelor of Veterinary Science student, who also helped to organise the previous year’s events, said 2022’s event was a great success.
“After all the trials of the COVID-19 years, with very few events due to restrictions, it is so great that students can now physically engage again in this type of event,” she said.
Earlier in the year, Gatton campus also held a campus-wide international food festival on Harmony Day.
“We aim to hold three to five large events per year, and anyone interested in becoming involved in organising future events at Gatton should engage with the SVS international student representatives,” Fiona said.
