Article 26 of the Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone
has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary
and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and
professional education shall be made generally available and higher education
shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”
In line with the UN Declaration, the University of Kent believes
that everyone has the right to higher education. We are working to ensure that
asylum seekers and students from a forced migration background are able to
access Higher Education.
Sanctuary Scholarships
The University of Kent, in partnership with the
Article 26 Project offers each year up to five Sanctuary Scholarships for
undergraduate entry. These awards are aimed at helping those seeking asylum in
the UK to progress to higher education. The benefits of the Sanctuary
Scholarship award are:
Each recipient’s tuition fees will be waived for the duration of
their programme of study or until they are able to access Student Finance
England funding at the University of Kent (undergraduate programmes only).
The recipients will be eligible to receive financial support from
the University of Kent to cover the cost of travel (to the University or
for group support), books, equipment, etc. This is a bursary payment of
£2000 at the start of the academic year.
The Students will be allocated an Adviser from Student Services to
support them during their studies and to help access any support services
and this will be a chance to check in and get extra support when or if it
is needed.
Application forms will be available from headofssw@kent.ac.uk from 28 February 2025.
Quotation
I am the first person to go to university in my family. Without your kind donations I would not be here. Coming from a low income background the scholarship has made a massive difference to my life."
Scholarship value
Tuition fee waiver
Deadline
Sunday 4 May 2025
Criteria
To meet the eligibility criteria of the Award,
applicants must:
Be an asylum seeker or the partner/dependent of an asylum seeker.
Have a conditional or unconditional offer of undergraduate study
from the University of Kent, having applied through UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service).
Be currently attending a school, college, community or voluntary
group which can provide a reference in support of their application.
Not have access to mainstream funding, e.g. student finance or a
local authority grant.
Live within commuting distance of the University of Kent (i.e.
within the county of Kent).
Be able to cover their own living expenses and accommodation costs.
Unfortunately the following courses are not currently available on the Sanctuary Scholarship at Kent: Courses dependent on NHS funding, Dentistry, Foundation degree programmes, Medicine and Pharmacy.
Case Studies
Fathima Zainab Riyaldeen
Fathima was a recipient of the Sanctuary Scholarship Fund who sought asylum in the UK in 2010. She
studied Accountancy and Finance and graduated in 2019 with a First from Kent
Business School.
"I was not
able to apply for a student loan because of my immigration status. The Article
26 scholarship gave me the opportunity to come to this university and get a
degree.
"By the time I had graduated, I knew I wanted to mentor students in my
area. I live in one of London’s poorest boroughs and I hope to encourage the
kids in my neighbourhood to go to university.
"The Article 26 Scholarship has literally
changed my life."
Dr Saeed Akkad
Dr Akkad from Syria undertook his PhD research into Cancer-related
nano-therapeutics at the University of Kent through the work of CARA (Council
for At-Risk Refugees).
Dr
Saeed speaks of his gratitude to the University and to CARA:
“I
had always wanted to do a PhD and so after talking to CARA they said that the
University of Kent would be happy to accept my proposal… The more I heard about
it [the University], the more I loved it. I loved it even before I arrived.
Ajay,
originally from Nepal, studied for a BA in Social Work at the University
through an Article 26 scholarship. Ajay describes how we was unable to continue
his studies due to a personal setback and that the scholarships were the
opportunity he was looking for:
“I kept
asking myself: am I good enough? But there were a lot of people supporting me.
There were times when everything was going wrong.
“On my
interview day I felt very anxious. However, when I was in front of the panel, I
felt very comfortable. They just said to me: ‘Tell us what you know and why you
want to study and what you want in the future.’ That made me more comfortable.
Everything eventually worked out…
The University of Kent made my life very easy
while I was doing my course.”
