Joy Seddon set up Welcome International Students of Cambridge to offer support and friendship.
The driving force behind a scheme to provide international students with a window into British life has been given a rarely awarded honour by the University of Cambridge.
Joy Seddon, MBE, founded Welcome International Students of Cambridge (WISC) in 2000, as an informal and voluntary organisation.
At a Congregation of the Regent House where degrees are conferred, Miss Seddon was awarded the singular honour of the MA, honoris causa.
The Honorary MA degree is awarded only to those who have made an outstanding contribution to the life of either the University or City of Cambridge.
WISC is designed to allow international visitors to experience British culture in a positive way, make their time in Cambridge as enjoyable and productive as possible, and to build good relationships between them and local families.
Miss Seddon said: “I was keen that this is not just about fighting loneliness or homesickness. I would love for the students to go back feeling that England is wonderful and the people are too.”
A teacher by profession, she was born in Argentina but first arrived in Cambridge as a child and has since taught all over the world.
Reflecting that Cambridge attracted many overseas students who might experience loneliness or find it difficult to return home during University vacations, she founded WISC.
One particular feature of the welcome and hospitality that Miss Seddon and WISC have provided has been the Christmas lunch-parties, given to students of any faith or cultural background at a time when Colleges may be otherwise largely empty and their facilities mostly closed-down over the Christmas period.
Those present in the Senate House were told by the Orator that: “For many years she has opened her home to our overseas students, offered them hospitality, and introduced them to British arts, foods and customs.
“She has founded a network of volunteers who do the same. She seeks no payment. She claims no reward, other than the friendship of those she has taken in.”
Miss Seddon has provided both a warm welcome and an enduring network of friendship, fun and hospitality to some 300 students since she began her work.
Among the lasting impressions she has made is engendering a love of Cribbage among the students.
“It can get quite competitive and often the first thing former students ask me when they call is who is now top of the league,” said Miss Seddon.
In recognition of her work she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year Honours List and now the University has conferred on her the honorary degree.
Former students helped by Miss Seddon gathered to see the Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, confer the degree at the ceremony last weekend.
Image credit: Nigel Luckhurst.