An insight into the life of an International Foundation Programme student at Kent

The International Foundation Programme (IFP) at the University of Kent is a one year full-time programme designed to prepare international students for degree-level study in the UK. The course and team provide support to help students settle in to life on campus, providing them with a great foundation in the skills and knowledge needed for undergraduate study.

Faye Zulfiqar-Ahmed is a current IFP student on our Biosciences pathway who started her course in September 2018. Below, Faye gives a short insight into what life has been like as a student since she began just a few weeks ago.

“Hello, my name is Faye and I’m a foundation year student at the University of Kent! I’m 17 years old and I’m already finding the university a wonderful place for me to fit in. Coming from an island called Bahrain located in the Middle East and moving to a place I’ve never been to before, agitated me. I thought I’d never fit in, have a hard time making friends, but all of that became easy for me, I felt at home.

 Welcome week was very enjoyable for me. I got to meet a lot of new people who were really easy to get along with. There were plenty of enjoyable events that I attended, plenty of societies to join as well! Although I chose not to partake in any of those societies this year, I definitely plan to do so next year.

 I’m doing Biosciences that’ll hopefully lead to Biomedical Sciences next year and the undergraduate courses that I’m taking this year are absolutely intriguing, just as I imagined. Getting used to the courses was pretty scary to me at first, especially on the first two days, but it got better as I was settling in.  I’m excited to find out what the IFP will provide me throughout the year and I hope everyone is able to feel this way too.”

If you would like to find out more about the International Foundation Programme (IFP) at the University of Kent, please visit our website.

Alternatively, if you have any questions, please email pathways@kent.ac.uk