The University of Kent is delighted to announce that it is celebrating South Asian Heritage Week for the first time this year.

British South Asians represent a huge percentage of the British population and also form a large proportion of our staff and student bodies. The contributions of British South Asians to British culture, politics, science and academics cannot be understated and it is important that we take the time to recognise and celebrate these contributions.

Nationally, South Asian Heritage Month runs from the 18 July – 17 August in recognition of the date that the Indian Independence Act 1947 gained royal assent from King George VI and the date that the Radcliffe Line was published in 1947, which finally set out where the border between Indian, West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) would be. It seeks to raise the profile of British South Asian heritage and history in the UK through education, arts, culture and commemoration, with the goal of helping people to better understand the diversity of present-day Britain and improve social cohesion across the country. As these dates fall within the summer holidays for the majority of our undergraduate students, the University has taken the decision to move our own local celebrations to the late spring term to allow more students and staff the opportunity to get involved and celebrate.

We have cooking workshops, film screening, a writers workshop and other free events and activities taking place across the week, as well as a huge amount of online resources that you can tap into. For the full programme, see Kent Union’s South Asian Heritage Week website.

We hope you enjoy it!