New fund to support refugees and asylum seekers at Birmingham
A new scholarship fund will provide support to refugees or asylum seekers who can study at the University of Birmingham.
The University of Birmingham is pleased to announce a new scholarship fund that will offer five Sanctuary Scholarships for undergraduate and postgraduate taught students who have sought refuge in the UK.
Sanctuary Scholarships
- The scheme will offer up to five new awards each year, providing opportunities for those taking pre-sessional, undergraduate and postgraduate courses with a full tuition-fee waiver and £5,000 per year of study to help with living costs
- Over time the University of Birmingham will be supporting 15-20 refugee student scholars every year
- Applications for undergraduate and postgraduate courses starting in the 2022/23 academic year will be open to asylum seekers from anywhere in the world currently living in the UK
- The deadline to apply is 30 June 2022.
The announcement was made ahead of National Landmark Day on 21 March as Old Joe was lit up in Orange (the colour of the refugee flag) in support of Together With Refugees which calls for a kinder, fairer and more effective approach to supporting refugees in the UK.
The announcement of the five Sanctuary Scholarships is a step in the right direction to ensure the University of Birmingham continues to provide life-changing opportunities for a university education or academic career for individuals who have been displaced from their home countries. The University is also applying to become a University of Sanctuary, alongside the City of Birmingham which is already established as a City of Sanctuary.
In relation to events taking place in Ukraine, the University of Birmingham has publicly committed to providing further practical help including financial support for new and displaced students from Ukraine. We also support Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics) and their work and will be extending our support further this year to provide more assistance to our colleagues and partners in Ukraine.
Commenting on the support for Ukraine, Professor Adam Tickell said: "The conflict in Ukraine is a reminder of why offering sanctuary to students and scholars in need matters. The images we see on our screens from Ukraine are distressing and we hope a resolution can be achieved as soon as possible. The University is providing all possible practical and emotional support to our current students and staff who have been affected by the crisis in Ukraine. We recognise that many more people will be affected and displaced by these terrible events, and we are working on ways in which we can go further to support those who are seeking refuge and sanctuary in the UK.”
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For further media information, please contact Hasan Salim Patel on +44 (0)7966 311 409 or out of hours office number on +44 (0)7580 744 943.
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 6,500 international students from over 150 countries.
The Sanctuary Scholarships have been established to help prospective students who have sought refuge in the UK and are unable to access student loans or other sources of statutory funding available due to their residency status. In the UK, university applicants with asylum-seeker status are legally classed as overseas applicants – meaning higher tuition fees - and do not have access to student financial support through the Student Loan Company (SLC). This presents significant financial barriers to higher education. While refugees count as home students and can access SLC support, many face challenging circumstances, including financial difficulties.