Amazing…fantastic…unbelievable…just a few of the words used by finalists to describe this year’s International Student Awards’ experience.

Twelve international students who made it through to the finals of the 2006 competition enjoyed two memorable stays in London last month - the culmination of months of hard work by the British Council’s Education UK Marketing Division, which organised the event to celebrate the achievements of international students studying in the UK.

Nigerian student Akan Odon, who is currently studying the effects of pesticides on soil functions at Lancaster University, was named International Student of the Year 2006 at the awards’ ceremony - held at BAFTA in Piccadilly.

After picking up his award from British Council Chair Lord Kinnock, 24-year-old Akan told ceremony host, BBC news presenter, Mishal Husain: “I am very honoured, and very surprised - everyone here deserved to win, they are all amazing people.

“This has been such a fantastic experience for me, and I’m grateful to have been given the chance to tell everyone about my wonderful life in the UK.”

The students had also been invited to a special reception at No 10 Downing Street on April 18 to participate in the launch of the Prime Minister’s Initiative for International Education. Each of the students had the chance to exchange their own thoughts with Mr Blair as they brought a human face to the world of international student recruitment. Two of the students had cut short Easter visits to China and Singapore in order to attend the event.

Since the 2006 competition was launched in November last year, more than 2,000 students, representing 125 nationalities, provided inspirational accounts of life in the UK in the form of a ‘letter home’. Earlier this year, judging sessions in the nine English regions plus Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland produced the 12 regional winners, who took part in informal, individual interviews the day before the awards’ ceremony.

Yogita Patel, of the British Council’s Education UK Marketing Division, was one of the final judges alongside representatives of the DfES, UKCOSA and the NUS. She said ”When you get to this stage of the competition, you expect the standard of entries to be high – and this year was no exception.

“All the students were already winners and deserved to be in the final. Choosing an overall winner was difficult, but Akan had real star quality and as the competition aims to highlight the non-academic accomplishments of international students, his achievements were inspiring and he has the potential to be an ideal ambassador for the UK.”

Lord Kinnock has been impressed with how all the students are making the most of their time in the UK. Underlining the importance of international education in the UK, he told guests at the awards’ ceremony: “The International Student Awards initiative is welcome evidence of the practical recognition of the huge material and intellectual importance of international education to the UK: international learners and researcher make vital contributions to the UK’s capacity for research, technological growth and innovation, they strengthen courses, campuses and communities, and their experiences here lay foundations for long-lasting relationships and sustained educational, cultural and scientific, commercial and political links.

“In return, we want the quality of UK education and the consequences of living in this country to provide enduring benefit to the individuals and to their home countries.”

Armineh Soorenian, an Iranian student currently studying for a PhD in disability studies at Leeds University, was the regional winner for Yorkshire and Humber. She told In Focus: “I had an amazing time…it was a brilliant experience, one that I won't forget for the rest of my life.”