Eligibility

To be eligible for the Sanctuary Scholarship you must fall into one of the following immigration status groups: 

• an asylum seeker – a person who has made a claim within the UK for refugee status; 
• a person who has been granted humanitarian protection or limited leave to remain on grounds of seeking protection – this could include, for example, trafficked persons and unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have reached majority age; 
• a refugee – a person who has been granted refugee status by the UK Home Office; 
• the dependants of any of the above status groups, in recognition that they are also from asylum-seeking or refugee backgrounds, including: 
  • family members of an asylum seeker whose claim is dependant on a principal applicant; or 
  • family members of an individual with refugee or humanitarian protection status who have come to the UK on a family reunion visa.

You must have submitted an application to study at the University of Bristol in the year of the scholarship, and either have received an offer or your application still be under consideration.

 Your application must be for one of the following courses:  

• Foundation Programme 
  • International Foundation Programme 
  • Foundation in Arts and Social Sciences 
  • Foundation is Science, Engineering and Maths 
• Undergraduate course 
  • full-time course which lasts up to four years 
  • part-time course (where offered) 
• Postgraduate master's programme 
  • full-time or part-time postgraduate LLM, MA, MSc or MRes 
  • You must be made an offer, accept this offer, have your place on the course confirmed and register to study in order to start your studies and receive the scholarship. 

Please note that a Sanctuary Scholarship cannot be deferred if you are not able to register as a student in the year it is awarded to you.  If you defer/ reapply to study, you are able to reapply for the scholarship in your year of entry.

If you are not awarded a Sanctuary Scholarship, your application will still be considered and any offer would still stand, but you would need to provide alternate funding to support your your studies.

Part-time courses

Applications for the Sanctuary Scholarship can be considered if you are planning to study part time, on the condition that: 

• your chosen course offers a part-time option;
• your studies take no longer to complete than twice the length of its full-time equivalent (e.g. a one year full-time master's undertaken part-time over two years);
• the living cost element of the scholarship you are awarded will be adjusted to reflect the intensity of study you are undertaking in each academic year.

Ineligible courses

You are not eligible for the Sanctuary Scholarship if you are applying to study: 

• an undergraduate course that lasts more than four years full time, for example: 
  • MB ChB Medicine
  • BDS Dentistry
  • BVSc Veterinary Science
  • Gateway to Medicine
  • Gateway to Vet Science
  • Gateway to Dentistry
  • Any course that includes a year in industry or a year abroad
  • a postgraduate doctoral programme
  • An online or distance learning course
  • PGCE

Award

The Sanctuary Scholarship is intended to ensure that scholars do not need to pay for their tuition upfront and have access to reasonable living costs for the duration of their studies.  

Your level of Sanctuary Scholarship funding will be determined by how much UK government student financial support you are eligible to receive and whether you study full-time or part-time. 

You are expected to apply for and receive all UK government student financial support that is available to you, usually in the form of a loan for tuition fees and living costs. Your eligibility for UK government financial support depends on many factors, such as the level of course you are applying to, your residency status and whether you have studied in higher education before. 

Recipients of the Sanctuary Scholarship will receive an additional award from the University to ensure that you have adequate funds for living costs. 

If you are not eligible for any UK government financial support, you will receive a scholarship to cover your tuition fees and provide you with sufficient support for living costs. 

The Sanctuary Scholarship covers the full regular duration of your studies. It will be renewed each year provided that you continue to meet all the following conditions: 

• continue to be registered on your course at the time of each payment; 
• continue to have a right to reside in the UK; 
• continue to have a right to study in the UK. 

There is a finite budget used to fund the Sanctuary Scholarship Scheme. The University will do all it can to ensure that this budget is fully utilised to support the maximum number of eligible students. 

How to apply

1. Check back in the autumn 2023 term for information about applications for 2024/25 entry.
2. The selection panel will review the information you have provided on your application form, in order to fully understand:
   
   • Your eligibility for UK Government student funding.
   • Any barriers that you may have faced to access and complete higher education, which might include any:
     
     • interruption to studies;
     • unsuccessful applications to higher education;
     • inability to apply due to migration.
   • Your prior qualifications and whether you already hold a recognised degree or have previously experienced higher education.
3. The scheme aims to make sure that our scholarship student body is diverse in terms of the protected characteristics contained in the Equality Act 2010. When two candidates are equally matched through our selection criteria, we will give priority to minorities.
4. These criteria will form part of a wider application process, and therefore the selection panel reserve the right to take academic and budgetary considerations into account when making a decision on who will receive this discretionary scholarship.
5. The decision of the selection panel is final and there is no appeals process.
6. You must confirm your acceptance of any scholarship you are awarded within 10 working days of being notified. Failure to reply within two weeks (10 working days) may result in your scholarship being awarded to a reserve applicant.
7. If you decline the offer of a Sanctuary Scholarship, the award will be offered to a reserve applicant.
8. You will only be entitled to Sanctuary Scholarship award payments once you are fully registered at the University of Bristol.
9. You must provide the account details of a UK bank account to ensure timely Sanctuary Scholarship award payments. Payments will not be made to non-UK (overseas) bank accounts.
10. You will be contacted with a schedule of scholarship payments.
11. Each scheduled payment will only be made to you as long as you remain registered and satisfactorily engaged with your chosen University course or programme.
12. Requests for payments in kind will not be considered.
13. The University reserves the right to offset any payments against invoices for tuition fees or University-administered accommodation charges.

If you and your family are in receipt of asylum support provided by the UK Home Office, the Sanctuary Scholarship living cost award is likely to disrupt your eligibility for these payments. It is your responsibility to seek independent advice from a refugee organisation on the impact that the scholarship may have on your family's access to financial support from the UK Home Office.

Right to study

If you apply for the Sanctuary Scholarship, the University of Bristol will be required to conduct a right to study check with the UK Home Office.

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. Any decision will be final and cannot be appealed.

If you are awarded a Sanctuary Scholarship and are subject to immigration control, your acceptance of the scholarship will give consent for the University of Bristol to conduct a right to study check at the start of each term. The University of Bristol will seek your consent for any additional check that is required.

Change in circumstances

Withdrawing from your course

• After you have withdrawn from your studies, you will not be eligible for any further Sanctuary Scholarship payments.
• You will not have to repay any Sanctuary Scholarship instalments previously paid to you while you were registered and in attendance on the date of the payment.
• If you withdraw, and your Sanctuary Scholarship was covering your tuition fees, your Sanctuary Scholarship tuition fee award will be adjusted to meet any adjusted tuition fee liability.

Transferring to a different course at the University

• Your Sanctuary Scholarship only covers your original chosen course.
• If you transfer to another course at the University of Bristol, you will normally be entitled to the Sanctuary Scholarship award equivalent to the duration of your original degree, less any years worth of support already paid.
• If you are considering transferring course, you must inform the Student Funding Office before any change is finalised with your faculty to discuss the implication on your Sanctuary Scholarship funding.
• If you transfer course after the scholarship has been awarded, any additional funding that may be needed to cover additional living costs and tuition fees as a result of this course change will only be paid at the discretion of the Student Funding Office and is not guaranteed.
• If after having been notified of your Sanctuary Scholarship award, you transfer to a course that is longer in duration than your original course (eg from a BSc to an MSci, or to a course with a year in industry), you are not guaranteed funding for your additional year.
• If you transfer to a course with a higher tuition fee than your original course, you may be liable to pay the difference between the two tuition fees yourself.
• If you transfer to a University-affiliated college, you will no longer be eligible for the Sanctuary Scholarship.

Transferring to a different university

• The University of Bristol Sanctuary Scholarship is non transferable.
• If you transfer to a different university, your Sanctuary Scholarship payments will cease when your University of Bristol course registration ends.

Repeating studies

• Sanctuary Scholarship funding may not be available for any period of repeat study.
• You may need to be able to fund any period of repeat study yourself, including tuition fees and living costs.
• If you are eligible for government funding, you may be eligible for some continued support during your period of repeat study. This is a complex area, so you should contact the Student Funding Office for advice.
• If during the period of repeat study your scholarship entitlement is put on hold, it will restart once you have successfully completed the period of repeat study and satisfactorily progressed on your studies.

Suspending your studies

• If you are considering suspending your studies, you must inform the Student Funding Office before any change is finalised with your faculty.
• If you have agreement from your faculty to temporarily suspend your studies, you may not be entitled to receive Sanctuary Scholarship award payments during the period of suspension. Your scholarship entitlement during any suspension period is at the discretion of the Student Funding Office. The Student Funding Office will take into account government restrictions on your ability to work, access to other government or University funding support and the intensity of study for the period of suspension.
• You must inform the Student Funding Office of any suspension at the earliest opportunity to avoid being overpaid.
• The University of Bristol reserves the right to seek repayment of any scholarship overpayment you receive, where it is caused by your failure to inform the Student Funding Office of the change to your registration status in a timely manner.

Changing from studying full-time to part-time

• If you are considering changing from full-time study to part-time study during your studies, you must inform the Student Funding Office 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 award payments during your extended study period.
• Your scholarship entitlement during any period of extended study is at the discretion of the Student Funding Office.

Change in immigration status during studies

• If you receive any change to your immigration status you mustinform the Student Funding Office immediately.
  • This would include any response – positive or negative – from the Home Office to an application you have made, as well as any further immigration applications submitted, notification of changes to status or the terms associated with your granted status.
  • Any communication from or to the Home Office regarding your status and its terms should be brought to the attention of the Student Funding Office so your continued right to study can be confirmed.
• If a change in your immigration status means that you become eligible for UK government student financial support, you must apply for this support without delay. Once you have informed the Student Funding Office of this change to your immigration status, a University student funding adviser will be able to help you apply for this support. You would then be expected to re-apply for UK government student financial support in each subsequent year, should you remain eligible.
• Once your UK government student financial support has been assessed and awarded, your Sanctuary Scholarship entitlement will be reassessed to take into account any government student funding you are now eligible to receive.

Change in nationality status

• You must inform the Student Funding Office if your nationality status changes at any point during your application or studies.
• Your fee status and student support may be affected by any change in nationality.