OVERSEA STUDENTS IN LONDON
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[Correspondents are requested to keep their letters as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suita51s length is that of one of our " News of the Week " paragraphs. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym, and the latter must be accompanied by the name and address of the author, which will be treated as confidential.—Ed. THE SPECTATOR]
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
Sra,--The whole problem of foreign students in London has an importance for the future of the world that it is next to impossible to exaggerate. A great number of oversea students when they return to their own homes take a considerable part in the political life of their own country and what happens. to them during the impressionable years which they spend in England, whether they return embittered or enriched in mind and spirit,-may have great influence, not only on the individuals themselves. but upon the future relations between nations.
Every year thousands of young men and women pour into the City of London from all over the world ; Europeans of every kind, from countries as-far distant from each other as Iceland and Greece, refugees trying to continue- their-studies, Germans, Italians, French, Poles, Czechs, people from the Baltic States. There are Turkish men and women, Arabs, Africans ; Colonial students, students from North and South America, American Negroes ; Indians from Kashmir to Madras,. Chinese, Japanese, Koreans. A picturesque, kaleido- scopic procession. Some go north, to Leeds, Manchester, Scotland ; some to Ireland, Wales, or the University of the South West ; some to Oxford and Cambridge, but the great majority stay in London. How do they fare, these young travellers, when they finally arrive and settle in London ? • All great cities are lonely places for the stranger, and London is no exception. One of the hardest tests a foreign student has to go through is often his first few weeks in England especially if, as in many cases, he has no friends, and no introductions. The great University, which opens its doors to such• vast numbers of students, is unable, by reason of its very size, to give much individual attention to oversea freshers; and,' besides these, there are many newcomers from abroad who have not even the small personal link of being a London University Student, but who are engaged in the study of the English language or the writing of theses. With some inevitable exceptions, the London landlady is often the best friend an oversea student has, and many times some kind-hearted woman lias• saved- a young foreigner much loneliness and misery.— Friendliness of a far less desirable kind is only too often offered to the new arrival, particularly on the London docks, and there is still little protection for the bewildered novice from such people.
The need of some centre to which foreign students can go on arrival in London is obvious. There are several excellent " national " hostels, notably Indian, African, Chinese, and London House (for Dominion students), which are invaluable starting places for many people from those countries, but, if their sojourn abroad is to be of real value, students must also have opportunities of social and cultural life, often very difficult for the stranger to obtain. There are an increasing number of organisations such as the National Union of Students, the Victcr:a League, the East and West Friendship Council, which are helping large numbers of students to meet British students, as well as each other.
The Club from which I write, the Student Movement House, 32 Russell Square, was the first, and is still the only Club for University students. It is non-residential and admits students of any country, race or creed. Started in 1917 by the Student Christian Movement, it is a War Memorial to British students killed in the Great War ; its purpose is to provide a meeting-place for University men and women from all over the world, a centre where they can meet each other and their fellow British students and take part in social and cultural activities.
The history of the Club, twenty-one years old this year, is the history in miniature of the international student world in London since the War. We have had a continuous and fast moving membership of 8°o-4,00o students, from over So different countries during this period. For the first fifteen years of its life this international community was exciting,
full of possibilities and of hope. But, from 1932 until the present time there is a different story to tell. The student is. no longer a free agent, every turn of the political wheel affect; one or other nationality, and we are almost afraid to read the newspapers. Abyssinian students are recalled to fight Italian fello.iv members of the Club ; Spanish students disappear and are not heard of again ; refugees come from Germany and AuStria, Chinese students are stranded with no money to continue their studies: Youth is by nature hopeful, but even students are now cynical and almost hopeless ; an ever present fear shows itself in many ways.
Yet the outlook is not entirely black : Chinese and Japanese can and do make friends, within the comparative security of the Student Movement House. Arabs can and do discuss the situation in Palestine with Jewish members. International concerts still produce the music and arts of many, great civilisations.
Students who have lived in such an international community, and taken a share in the responsibility for the Club activities, are learning, every day, lessons of immense value to themselves and their own countries.
The greater part of last year I spent in India and the Far East, visiting old members of the Student Movement House in their own homes. In China and Japan I found young men discussing (in April and May, 1937) the probability of war in the world as a whole. In India I realised afresh what a deep impression their experiences in England make upon students from that country, and, if their stay abroad has been profitable in broadening their vision, of what great value they can be on their return- in the adjustments of Indo-British relationships.
All the old members of the Club whom I met, in many countries, made it clear to me that their time at the Student Movement House has made a real difference not only to their individual happiness in London, but to their international outlook.
It is indeed true to say that the distant races of the world have been linked together too suddenly and too closely. Students, thrown together without rhyme or reason, may be a great danger, to themselves and to the world ; they are im- pulsive dynamic material, but dynamite, wisely directed and controlled can be an immense power. If we accept these large numbers of foreign students in this country we cannot evade our responsibility for them, nor should we close our eyes to the fact that we have, in our present student popu- lation, one of the greatest hopes for peace in the future.
32 Russell Square, London, W.C.i.
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