Scholarships and Bursaries

UNDERGRADUATE SANCTUARY SCHOLARSHIP 2024 to 2025

The Sanctuary Scholarship will support two successful undergraduate applicants with tuition fees waived for the duration of their undergraduate studies and a scholarship to assist with course related costs.  

Fees and Funding Scholarships and Bursaries
A close up of a student selecting a book from the bookshelf in the library.

How does it work?

To be eligible you must be assessed by USW as having one of the following immigration status's:  

  • Be a Person Seeking Asylum   
  • Limited Leave to Remain (as a result of an Asylum application)  
  • Be the partner/dependent included on the application of a person of any of the above groups*   

* Spouses/civil partners must have been the spouse/civil partner on the date on which the asylum application was made. Children/step-children must have been aged under 18 on the date on which the asylum application was made  

In addition, you must also  

  • Have been offered a conditional or unconditional offer for a full time undergraduate degree at the University of South Wales starting in September 2024
  • Accepted the offer on a firm basis
  • Have applied for a course lasting at least three academic years (excluding NHS funded courses e.g. nursing) by 4.30pm Friday 7th June 2024
  • Live within reasonable commuting distance to the campus that your chosen course is on
  • Not require additional support from the University for living expenses or accommodation other than that provided through the USW Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarship.
  • Due to your immigration status, not be eligible for Student Finance from another authority e.g. Student Finance Wales, Student Finance England, SAAS, Student Finance Northern Ireland etc. (you may be required to show evidence of this)
  • Apply for the scholarship by 4.30pm Friday 5th July 2024

The scholarship will waive the full tuition fees costs of an eligible full time undergraduate degree for the duration of your original programme or until such a point that you become eligible to apply for UK government student financial support, at which point scholarship recipients must apply for this support. In addition to the tuition fee waiver, the following support will be provided by the University:

Pre-Entry

  • An English Language test if required for admission
  • An English Language pre-sessional course of up to 5 weeks duration if assessed as required

Year 1

  • Assistance to enable the purchase of an electronic device (e.g. laptop or tablet)
  • Assistance towards the cost of local travel e.g. A rail card between Cardiff to Treforest or Cardiff to Newport or other local travel from home address to university
  • Book Voucher for Waterstones to support the purchase of academic texts
  • A food voucher for a USW food outlet
  • Support with course‐related consumables e.g. printing costs

Year 2,3,4

  • Assistance towards the cost of local travel e.g. A rail card between Cardiff to Treforest or Cardiff to Newport or other local travel from home address to university
  • Book Voucher for waterstones? to support the purchase of academic texts
  • A food voucher for a USW food outlet
  • Support with course‐related consumables e.g. printing costs
  • Final year a £100 award towards graduation costs

The amount of financial support will be set by the panel on an annual basis. Items may not usually be exchanged for other support, and requests for payment in kind will not usually be considered. No funding will be transferred directly to the students so as not to affect any UK Home Office financial support and remain within No Recourse to Public Funds condition.

Once you have received and accepted a conditional or unconditional offer on to a full-time undergraduate degree, you will be sent an email containing a link to apply for the USW Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarship. The email will be sent to the email address listed on your course application to the University.

You must submit the application by 4.30pm on Friday 5th July 2024.

To determine who will receive an USW Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarship, the awarding panel will consider each of the following:
  1. whether applicants meet the eligibility criteria for the scholarship;
  2. which eligible applicants would benefit most from receiving the USW Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarship taking into account:
  • residency status
  • any barriers applicants have faced to access and complete higher education
  • access to other sources of funding
  • applicants' future ambition
  • applicants' support networks
  • applicants personal statement.
  • Location applicants currently live in relation to the campus the course is on

You may be invited to an interview to discuss your application before final decisions are made.

The decision of the selection panel is final and there is no appeals process.

The Student Money Advice Team will contact you using the email address listed on the scholarship application form within 10 working days of receipt of the application to confirm that we have received the form.

If you require an English Language test, we will process the application for this within 10 working days of this. After you receive the result of your test, we will let you know if you still remain eligible to be considered for the rest of the scholarship.

After the closing date, the panel will consider all remaining eligible applications for the scholarship. You will be notified of their decision within two weeks of the closing date.

Please note the panel may require for you to attend an interview to discuss your application further.

Successful applicants will also need to meet with a member of the Immigration and International Student Advice Team before enrolling to agree to enrolment conditions and have their immigration status checked.

If you do not have the right to study confirmed by the UK Home Office, you will not be permitted to start your programme of study and will not receive scholarship support.

If you are awarded a Sanctuary Scholarship, we advise you to seek professional advice about how this could affect your asylum support.

Depending on the conditions of your immigration status, you may not be able to take placements as part of your course. We strongly recommend that you speak to the University’s Immigration and International Student Advice Team prior to applying for any course with placements to ensure that you will be able to complete your chosen course.

USW Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarship will be available for one period of repeat study. You may need to fund any additional period of repeat study yourself, including tuition fees and living costs. Once you have progressed into the next academic year, your scholarships will restart.

If you withdraw from your studies, you will not receive any further support from the USW Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarship. You will not have to repay the value of any of the scholarship awarded to your before you withdrew from your course.
If you are considering interrupting your studies, you must contact the Student Money Advice Team before you finalise your interruption of studies. Interrupting your studies may have an impact on your eligibility to receive the USW Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarship. You must inform the Student Money Advice Team at the earliest opportunity to avoid any potential issues.

If you receive any changes to your immigration status you must inform the Student Money Advice Team immediately.
You must inform us of any response from the Home Office regardless of what the change is –positive or negative or any changes or new immigration applications submitted.
If as a result of any of these changes, you become eligible for UK government student finding, then the Student Money Advice Team will assist you in applying for this.
You must apply for it if you become eligible. Once you are in receipt of this funding, your Sanctuary Scholarship will be re-assessed to take account of this.

If you are considering changing from full‐time study to part‐time study during your studies, you must inform the Student Money Advice Team before any change is finalised with your faculty.

If you have agreement from your faculty to temporarily change to from a full‐time to a part‐time mode of attendance, you may not be entitled to receive Sanctuary Scholarship support during your extended study period.

Your scholarship entitlement during any period of extended study is at the discretion of the Student Money Advice Team.

Successful applicants of the Undergraduate Sanctuary Scholarships may be contacted by the University about their experience of studying at the University of South Wales.