Brenda King MBE visits LSA!

27 April 2015

Last Friday we had the pleasure of welcoming Ms Brenda King MBE to LSA.

Brenda King is Chief Executive of African & Caribbean Diversity, a post that she has maintained since 2003. She is also a member of the Third Sector Forum that advises the Government on Social Mobility and advises universities on their Widening Participation initiatives. Brenda has received national recognition for her pioneering work with the Afro-Caribbean communities with a MBE awarded by the Queen in 2004 and an honorary degree from her alma mater Warwick University in 2009. Since 2002, Brenda has been a UK representative on the Brussels-based European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a consultative body that gives representatives of Europe’s socio-occupational interest groups, and others, a formal platform to express their points of views on EU issues. Its opinions are forwarded to the larger institutions – the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament. It thus has a key role to play in the Union’s decision-making process.

Ms King travelled from London to speak to year 10 language students about the importance of Languages in the European Union and also how the decision making process works within the committee of the EU. Our students asked some interesting questions and learned a great deal about how these decisions are made especially when the EU are called upon to make urgent ones like the current migrant issue in the Mediterranean. We learned about the Economic and Social Committee that Ms King participates in and its role within the EU.

As we approach Election day in the UK on May 7th it was interesting to listen to Ms King tell us about speeches that were to take place in the UK by Ed Miliband and David Cameron where they will bring up the issue of migrants making the treacherous crossing of to mainland Europe and what these politicians had discussed and agreed upon in the crisis meetings of the EU council.

She also spoke about the role of translators and their importance to the EU meetings. Many of the translators speak up to 5 languages though the EU still falls short of native English speakers working for them who are bi- or tri-lingual. Our budding linguists here at LSA could certainly be stepping in the right direction for a future career in Europe.

We thank Brenda King, MBE for taking the time to visit our students with the hope that it has inspired them to utilise their language skills in their future careers.