In response to the rapidly growing numbers of international students, Friends International announced an ambitious set of plans to expand its network of local centres to provide friendship and support to thousands more international students living and studying in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The current network of 40 centres reached 11,000 students for the Gospel in 2019. But Alan Tower, National Director of Friends International, said: ‘We are only scratching at the surface and the sheer number of international students demands an increased presence’.
Twelve new local centres are planned in places where there are no staff, but large international populations – five of these being Liverpool, Dublin, Brighton, Reading and Swansea. To coordinate this growth, two new regional development directors have been appointed. Plans are in place to recruit a further 20 new staff members to work both with Friends International’s current teams in London, Sheffield, Cardiff, Aberdeen, Bath, St Andrews, Durham, and Exeter, and pioneering at the new centres.
