Are you curious about how other students experienced their study abroad adventure? The UvA offers you the unique opportunity to apply for the Cultural Exchange Ambassadors Programme. The Cultural Exchange Ambassadors help other students with their cultural preparations, and organise exchange events. You will find their pictures and stories on social media and in the digital magazine, the Exchange Express.

Become a Cultural Exchange Ambassador

Would you like to meet local and international students, play an important role representing the UvA, expand your volunteer experiences and collaborate with students from a range of different cultures? As a Cultural Exchange Ambassador you get to the chance to do this and more. Future-proof your career with 21st century skills to stand out and succeed as intercultural leaders. Join the UvA multicultural student community and become a Cultural Exchange Ambassador!

University Spokesperson

As a Cultural Exchange Ambassador, you play an important role representing the University of Amsterdam. Every year, hundreds of international study abroad students are welcomed to study at the UvA and just as many UvA students leave to study at foreign universities. To raise students’ awareness of this opportunity and promote the various study abroad destinations, you are given a platform to share your study abroad experience and you are trained to find creative and innovative ways to support prospective students preparing for their own exchange experience.

We do not only trust the honest perspective of study abroad students, we also know that peer advising plays a key role in reassuring future mobility students about what it is like to go abroad.

Multicultural teamwork

The UvA Cultural Exchange Ambassadors Programme is a team-based, extracurricular experience promoting equity in mobility, celebrating cultural diversity and inspiring students to engage with their community. You will be given the opportunity to use your student mobility experience (for example participating in an exchange, summer, conference, scholarships and/or virtual study abroad programme) and collaborate in various teams to complete a list of challenging but fun projects.

You will meet your fellow ambassadors during our weekly training sessions, spending a total of 30 hours of work on a variety of team projects. Good to know: the week before and during exam week, there will be a well-deserved break from the sessions. Examples of projects and activities you may participate in are:

• Speaking at the UvA Study Abroad Fair
• Sharing your student experience (testimonials) in the UvA World Map
• Sharing your experience at various sessions, such as our pre-departure meetings
• Meeting partner universities at the International Staff WeekExternal link
• Organising the EDI Festival with student ambassadors of the University of BirminghamExternal link
• Working on the Exchange Express
• Field visits to different organizations

Professional skills 

As a Cultural Exchange Ambassador, you will be trained to navigate and adapt to cultural differences, apply different strategies to capitalise on the creativity and innovation that comes with multicultural teamwork and develop your intercultural competence. Useful skills for everyone who foresees a future career where you will be working with a diverse group of people! 

The programme will focus on enhancing your self-efficacy in interacting with students from different cultures with an emphasis on communication, equity-mindedness and inclusion. At the end of the programme, you will receive a certificate and a LinkedIn recommendation.

Award-winning Programme

In 2015, the Cultural Exchange Ambassadors Programme won the prestigious Orange Carpet Award for the sector Higher Education. The award was granted to highlight outstanding initiatives that promote the international character of Dutch higher education.

In 2017, one of the Cultural Exchange Ambassadors teams signed up for the yearly Global Ingenuity Challenge, organised by the Universitas 21 network with the theme ‘Promoting Cultural Inclusiveness in Society. The ambassadors team competing on behalf of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) was awarded a joint winner of the 2017 Challenge for its entry called ‘UNIFY’.

Application deadlines and contact

Spots are limited, and you can register your interest on this pageExternal link.

• Applications for the first semester programme open on 1 August, and close on 30 August at 23:59 CEST.
• Applications for the second semester programme close on 30 January, 17:00 CET.

For questions about the Cultural Ambassadors Programme, please send an email to global@uva.nlExternal link.

Social media 

To give students an idea of what it's like to study abroad, UvA students share their study abroad stories through social media. You will find snapshots of study abroad experiences in Erasmus+ exchange, global exchange, summer schools, student conferences and virtual mobility programmes on the UvA Study Abroad Instagram pageExternal link. If you want to stay up to date on study abroad opportunities and the various exchange destinations, check out the UvA Exchange Facebook pageExternal link, where Cultural Exchange Ambassadors share their study abroad experiences. Lastly, make sure to take a look at the Cultural Exchange Ambassadors Instagram pageExternal link, to learn more about the programme and what it stands for.

Testimonials

For testimonials from both international students at the UvA (inbound exchange), and current UvA students abroad (Study Abroad), please check the UvA World Map and choose your destination(s).

To find out more about the experiences specifically from previous Cultural Exchange Ambassadors, you can read their testimonials on the programme (pdf).