Black History Month
Wellbeing and careers resources
Black student swimming course
Being able to swim is a potentially life-saving skill that everyone should have access to be able to learn. However, in the UK, 95% of Black adults don't swim for a variety a reasons, most notably due to ability and confidence. Sport and Active Life are looking to mitigate this within our Black student population and are setting up a course of free-swimming lessons taking place on campus.
If you are interested in taking part, please register your interest.
*We are able to offer 16 spaces. If more than 16 students register their interest, 16 people at random will be selected through a ballot. Please note this opportunity is available to University of Leicester students only who identify as Black.
Support and resources
- Black Girl In Om: Creating space for Black women
- Black Girl Fest
- The Underbelly: Wellness through yoga, founded in America, open to the world
- QTIPOC: A community of individuals creating space for people of colour who identify as LGBTQIA+
- Pennies to Pounds: demystifying personal finance and ensuring that financial literacy be a fundamental skill that should be accessible to everyone
- BlkOut: A not-to-profit social enterprise run by a collective of gay, bi, trans, queer black men that works together to address shared challenges, create platforms for their voices and build networks and active communities.
General mental health, well-being and financial support
- Mind: Information and support for mental health
- Student minds: A mental health charity putting young people first
- Our wellbeing resources offer dedicated support (log-in required). We're here for you.
- BlackBullion (log-in required): Blackbullion is an award-winning resource which equips students with money skills for life and As a University of Leicester student, you can now sign up for Blackbullion for free.
- Cost of Living Hub: The University of Leicester, together with the Students’ Union, is committed to supporting our community. Along with existing support, we have taken additional steps to help our all of our students. This includes undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research students.
- Ripple: As part of our commitment to a Suicide Safer University, we want to support all our students to manage their wellbeing and mental health challenges. We are committed to suicide prevention. We have installed the Ripple browser extension onto all our University computers.
- Spectrum.Life (log-in required): we have partnered with Spectrum.Life, to deliver to you a free confidential counselling and wellbeing support service. Our partner will offer all our students 24/7 support with any issues or problems that life can bring. All conversations are confidential, and trained counsellors are on hand and available, providing information, signposting and early interventions to help you through your current situation.
- PAM Wellbeing (log-in required): The EAP is a free and confidential employee benefit offering a confidential helpline to support with personal problems that can affect your home life, work life and general wellbeing.
For staff, more information on support and advice available at the University, can be gained from the Equalities Team and the University Staff Multi-Ethnicity Forum (log-in required).
Careers resources
Black Leadership Development Programme
Join our Black Leadership Development Programme, now partnering with KPMG. A fantastic development opportunity to network with a Leicester alumnus who is part of KPMG’s African and Caribbean Network, and develop your leadership and communication skills by competing in a business pitch challenge.
What is the Black Leadership Development Programme?
The programme will seek to support students from black heritage with the inspiration, support, and experience to enhance their leadership skills and accelerate their professional development and, in doing so, improve their career readiness which, in turn, increases the likelihood of securing your desired next steps after University.
The black leadership programme will enable you to:
- connect with and learn from professionals with similar lived experiences
- develop and enhance your assessment and selections skills
- gain experience to advance leadership, transferable and technical skills, and help plan next step
Step into PR
The Talor Bennet Foundation is delighted to announce the launch of Step into PR, their new Virtual Insight Programme. It is designed to inspire and engage young people (aged 16 and over) from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. The 5-day virtual insight programme will explore a career in Public Relations (PR) and Communications, with the opportunity to build your confidence, gain valuable skills and explore a variety of career options available to them within the PR industry.
Register your interest now. Deadline Friday 11 October, 11.59pm.
Black Tech Fest
Celebrate Black culture at the Black Tech Fest from Monday 10 October 2024.
#10,000 Black Interns
Access an array of internships for Black students from #10,000 Black Interns.
Reading lists by Black authors
The University’s curated reading list for Black History Month offers a wide range of reading and audio material to dive into. Check out the list for your next favourite read. You can also support the library through their Represent campaign, to help diversify our collections, or if you are a current University of Leicester student, become a Library Champion and work with the library to help improve the student experience in the library.
You can also find curated booklists of Black authors in a variety of genres on the Bookshop website.