ABOUT US
Who we are
Nansen Village is run by Barnet Overseas Students Housing Association Ltd. The Association is not for profit and governed by a board of trustees who volunteer their time. As well as the main board there are two subcommittees and resident representatives are invited to all trustee meetings. Our board employs a chief executive officer who, together with a small staff team, is responsible for the daily running of the village.
Our staff team and how we work together
Nansen Village has a small, dedicated staff team based at the village throughout the week. They support both the trustees and residents, managing the day-to-day operations, including home allocations, maintenance activities, cleaning, and organising events. The staff team also plays a key role in the long-term planning of the Association.
If your application is successful, you’ll have the opportunity to get to know our friendly team. While the trustees are responsible for setting and reviewing the policies that guide the work of the village, our staff team works closely with them to ensure that all operations are fair and consistent, particularly when matters fall outside established policies.
Brian Trainor
CEO
Amelia Edwards
Housing and Finance Co-ordinator
Ausra Gaspariuniene
Services
Medi Jakupaj
Maintenance
Our trustees
Nansen Village is governed by a group of voluntary trustees who give up their time freely and willingly as they have a strong belief in the interests and ethos of the Association.
Many of our trustees are retired professionals with legal, property and accountancy experience or who are working full time in education and care. Some have even lived in the village as students or were born here.
The job of the trustees is to develop policies and procedures to support the work of the Association and to ensure it is properly governed and financially sound.
Charlotte Weinberg
Honorary Life President and co-founder
Jonathan Wynne
Tal Aisenberg
Michael Manson
Hector Altamirano
Martin Wellsman
Steve Lerman
Norman Russell
Noreen Dawes (Treasurer)
Resident representatives
Throughout its history, the Association has benefited from the active involvement and engagement of its residents.
We have up to three resident representatives who attend trustee meetings and the Annual General Meeting, providing valuable insights and feedback. Where appropriate, we also consult all tenants and residents in the development of policies and procedures to ensure our approach reflects the needs of the community.
Our aims
The Association recognises that international students and their partners have greater difficulty finding good accommodation than those already in the UK. Nansen Village is primarily concerned with students on low incomes, with a spouse/partner and/or a maximum of two children under the age of eight living with them. Eligible British students are also accepted where they meet the same criteria as international students. To promote cultural diversity within Nansen Village, we limit the number of tenants from any one nationality to no more than five households at any given time. More detail can be found in our lettings policy.
Regulator
Barnet Overseas Students Housing Association is regulated by the UK Government’s Regulator of Social Housing. The Regulator sets out a range of financial, consumer and governance standards which we are required to follow.
The Association is also registered with the Housing Ombudsman, an independent body that sets standards for landlords in dealing with tenant complaints. It also provides a dispute resolution service when disputes cannot be resolved through the landlord’s complaints procedure. As a requirement of the Housing Ombudsman, we publish a self-assessment on how we deal with complaints, a statement from our Board on their commitment to meeting the Housing Ombudsman Code of Complaint, and an annual complaints performance and service improvement report.
Our story
Our story starts over 50 years ago by Kurt and Charlotte Weinberg. As refugees from Nazi Germany the couple had personally experienced the challenges of arriving in a new country. For many years they had hosted overseas students in their home but wanted to do more. Seeing the unnatural divisions between people of different cultures they wanted to find a way of bringing people together and give a positive impression of Britain to foreigners, especially foreign students. They felt students were likely to be more receptive to their views on co-operation and understanding between people from different cultures and backgrounds. The ambition was that students would take their positive experience of studying overseas home with them and eliminate any fears of perceived cultural barriers.
Recognising the greatest problem students faced was finding a place to live, Kurt and Charlotte began to conceive a community where people from all over the world could study in peace while exchanging ideas and experiences with people with whom they might expect to have nothing in common.
Barnet Overseas Students Housing Association was created to put this belief into practice. As a not-for-profit organisation, with no funds of its own, it had to seek external funding and, with the help of the British Council providing a grant, Kurt and Charlotte realised the Nansen Village we see and love today.
Sixty-six homes, the first completed in 1971, make up this international community in leafy north London. It is named after Fridtjof Nansen, the explorer, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Since 1971, we have hosted hundreds of families from all over the world. There are over 160 current residents. More than 380 babies have been born to families in the village.