On 24 October, the University of Westminster welcomed the Lord Mayor of Westminster for a tour of its central London campuses to showcase its innovative initiatives supporting student entrepreneurship as well as physical and mental wellbeing. The visit also allowed for discussions on possible future collaborations.
The Lord Mayor, Councillor Robert Rigby, was welcomed to the University by Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Peter Bonfield and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement and Employability Professor Dibyesh Anand. They began the visit by discussing the University’s key priority of wellbeing and how Westminster works to support its students both during their studies and throughout their careers.
The Vice-Chancellor then followed with a tour of the Regent and Cavendish campuses, including Westminster’s world-first Centre for Nutraceuticals and the University’s recently restored arts venue, the Soho Poly. The Lord Mayor remarked on the University’s prominent place in the City of Westminster’s cultural history after viewing various archival images of actors and musicians who have performed at the Soho Poly, including Sir John Hurt and Prunella Scales, and visiting Little Titchfield Street’s Portland Hall where Jimi Hendrix and Cream once played to students.
Returning to Regent Street, the Lord Mayor met with colleagues from the University of Westminster Students’ Union (UWSU) to discuss the expansion of clubs and societies in recent years and spoke with student representatives from the Westminster Elite Athlete Programme and its history-making Westminster Dragons basketball team. During his term in office, the Lord Mayor is focused on “inspiring activity” and enjoyed hearing about how Westminster champions physical activity for student wellbeing in addition to the successes of the University’s student athletes.
The tour proceeded to Marylebone Campus where the University’s Director of Business Engagement Linsey Cole showed the Lord Mayor around the construction site of Westminster’s new Zone29 employability and enterprise hub. The Lord Mayor heard about the University’s plans to create an innovative and inclusive space where students, alumni, businesses and the local community can come together to collaborate towards enterprise in Westminster, London and beyond.
The Lord Mayor then met with Business Engagement colleagues to discuss student enterprise and career success. The Lord Mayor heard from Clelia Bevillard, Senior Student Enterprise Manager at the Westminster Enterprise Network (WeNetwork), that WeNetwork engages with over 3000 students and that almost one-fifth of Westminster graduates go into self-employment or start their own business. Laura Hughes, Head of Alumni Relations, also spoke and discussed Westminster's alumni community which consists of over 300,000 people across the world.
On the visit, the Lord Mayor commented: “I recently visited the University of Westminster and met the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Bonfield and his colleagues responsible for delivering sport at the University. It was great to see and hear the fantastic work they are doing to get their students active as well as being introduced to some students who are part of the Westminster Dragons. My theme for this year as Lord Mayor is to Inspire Activity, so I am hoping very much between the Council’s ActiveWestminster team and the Westminster Dragons, we can work together to further support sports within the City of Westminster.”
Professor Peter Bonfield, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University, said: “It was a great pleasure to host the visit of the Lord Mayor of Westminster and in particular to share perspectives on how sports clubs and societies make a positive contribution to mental and physical health and wellbeing, especially with our ace UWSU team with us too.”
Westminster’s work towards student wellbeing and enterprise contributes to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including 3: Good Health and Well-being and 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, while the visit from the Lord Mayor to discuss wider community collaboration contributes to SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Find out more about student wellbeing and employability at the University of Westminster.
