Violet Burns Bursary 2025/2026
The aim of the Violet Burns Bursary is to support people who identify as female from under-represented and/or low participation neighbourhoods in their first year of undergraduate study on a course in the University’s Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science. The Bursary consists of £1,000 in the first year of study and the option of mentoring and coaching for the duration of the course from Hayley Burns, Violet’s daughter and Deputy Dean of the Faculty.
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Violet Burns (nee Mackie) was born into a working-class family in 1946, one of eleven children. Raised in a two-bedroom council house in a small fishing village on the east coast of Scotland, there were insufficient funds available to support the family and she had to leave school at an early stage to take up a job in a local shop. Given her background and the limited opportunities she had, she never believed herself capable of achieving, and yet was a secret science enthusiast, often to be found curled up in a chair, engrossed in an encyclopaedia or medical journal. She never returned to her education despite having a keen interest in both medicine and writing. Violet sadly passed away on 10th January 2017 following a battle with lung cancer.
This bursary is set up in memory of Violet by her daughter, Hayley Burns, who is the Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science. Hayley felt that Violet’s early experiences meant she didn’t embrace opportunities later in life and never reached her full potential, even though she was hugely supportive of all of her children (two daughters and a son). Having experienced first-hand the positive impact the University of South Wales has had on its students and the value of the supportive and inclusive environment it creates, Hayley has established the bursary in memory of her mother. She believes that Violet would be proud that it was helping other young people who identify as women, especially those who have experienced barriers to education in their past, to believe in themselves and their abilities to reach their full potential.
As a qualified Coach and Mentor, as part of the bursary, Hayley will also offer mentoring and coaching to the successful recipient, for the duration of the course and beyond.
To be eligible, you will need to meet all of the criteria below:
- Self-identify as female
- Self-identify as one of the ethnic groups under the following headings on this published UK Government list:
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- Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Groups
- Asian or Asian British
- Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British
- Other Ethnic Group*
-
OR
- Your home postcode is in a Low Participation Neighbourhood: Search by postcode - Office for Students
- Have applied for entry to year 0 or year 1 of a full-time USW undergraduate degree lasting 3 or more academic years starting in 2025-26 academic year
- Applied for a course in the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, studying on a University of South Wales campus (Treforest, Glyntaff, Cardiff or Newport) – see below for details
- Be a UK home student liable for the UK home rate of tuition fees and eligible for Student Finance from the UK government (SFE/SFW/SFNI/SAAS)
- Be enrolled full time on year 0 or year 1 at time of payment in November 2025.
*Students whose ethnicity is Gypsy, Roma, Irish Traveller, Boatman or Showman also qualify to apply for this bursary.
You will receive £1,000 paid directly into your bank account when the bursary is confirmed by the end of November 2025. The bursary is only available in your first year of study.
You can use the grant for any reasonable costs connected with going to university, including tuition fees, accommodation costs, living expenses, or equipment to help you study.
To apply, please write a statement in no more than 500 words incorporating the following:
- Why you wish to be considered
- What barriers you have faced in your personal and/or educational life
- What you anticipate you would use the bursary for
- Why you want to study at the University of South Wales, making specific reference to the course you have been accepted onto.
Email your application to: [email protected] by 5pm on 15 August 2025.
To determine who will receive the Violet Burns Bursary, the awarding panel will consider each of the following:
1. Whether the applicant meets the eligibility criteria of the bursary
2. The information provided in your supporting statement for the bursary
3. The information provided on how you would envisage spending the bursary
4. Priority will be given to applicants:
- Who are under 25 and have previously been in care
- Who have a disability (including a specific leaning disability)
- Who are estranged from their family
- Who are the first person in their family to attend university
- Who are refugees
- Your home postcode is in a Low Participation Neighbourhood: Search by postcode - Office for Students
- Who are Carers - The Carers’ Trust definition of a carer is “anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.” Please note that these duties would be in addition to the usual caring responsibilities that a parent would have for a dependent child.
The decision of the selection panel is final and there is no appeal process.
5. In applying for the bursary, you are agreeing to meet with the bursary provider at least once. You will be under no obligation to accept but mentoring and / or coaching will be offered to you throughout the full duration of your studies in this meeting, not just the year you receive the bursary.