Hundreds of students attended 34 events over the week, including the Holi Colour Run and Festival of Cultures Performance Showcase. Take a look at some photos taken throughout the week.
Global Week 2025 was another huge success, with 34 events across 7 days. Hundreds of students, staff and members of the local community engaged with events. Global Week is our annual celebration of global culture and international diversity at the University of Portsmouth and within our beautiful City.
Holi Colour Run
We kicked off the week with colourful Holi, with over 100 students in attendance. Holi is the Hindu festival of colour, and one student in attendance face-timed with her father at home in India during the festivities.
Festival of Cultures exhibition
On Thursday 20 March, over 500 people visited the flagship event, the Festival of Cultures exhibition, immersing themselves in over 30 different cultures. Local school children also attended the event, learning about new cultures and meeting students from all over the world. The children had, in their words, “an epic time”. They all spoke in their native languages to stall holders, played games, ate a lot of food and had lots of brilliant experiences.
There were also performances from Batala drumming, Cuban salsa, Bulgarian folk dancing, Afro Fusion, Indian dancing and much more.
Inspiration from Nelson Mandela's bodyguard
The week culminated in an inspiring talk from Chris Lubbe, Nelson Mandela’s former bodyguard. Chris shared his story of growing up in South Africa during apartheid, his time with Nelson Mandela, and he spoke to students and staff about the power of resilience, leadership and forgiveness.
One student who attended Chris’ talk said “His journey and insights left me feeling inspired and reminded of the importance of making a positive impact”.
Memories from the week were recorded on postcards and will be placed in the University Archive, for generations to come to relive the experience.