Futures Scholarship: terms and conditions

The Futures Scholarships are a group of scholarships with the same award structures as well as core terms and conditions. Individual schemes will have additional terms and conditions.

Read the general terms and conditions as well as those that are scheme-specific under the relevant subheading.

All Futures scholarships are mutually exclusive and you cannot receive more than one.

Scheme links

Eligibility for all schemes

To be eligible for any of the Futures awards, you must:

be resident in the United Kingdom
have an offer (or be awaiting a decision) to start an undergraduate programme at the University of Bristol in 2025/26
be in full-time study (part-time students are not eligible to apply)
have a household income of £50,000 or less as confirmed by the Student Loans Company
be eligible for the financial support available from the UK Government (in the form of the tuition fee and living costs loans from the Student Loans Company)
have applied for or intend to apply for means-tested support from your regional funding provider (e.g. Student Finance England) and have consented to share your household income details with the University

Black Futures eligibility

You must have one of the following categories of ethnicity:

Black African
Black Caribbean
Black Other
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean
Mixed: White and Black African
Other mixed background (to include Black African, Black Caribbean, or Black Other)

Cratchley Scholarship in History eligibility

You must have an offer (or be awaiting a decision) to start one of the following courses in 2025/26:

any history degree excluding Ancient History and History of Art.

Eileen Drummond and Sheila Anderson Law Bursary

You must have an offer (or be awaiting a decision) to start a single honours law degree in 2025/26.

Before 2024/25, this bursary was not part of the futures programme. It consisted of one payment of £1,000 in the first year of study.

Pearson Scholarship in English eligibility

You must have an offer (or be awaiting a decision) to start one of the following courses in 2025/26:

any English course

Geraldine Keefe: Women in Engineering Futures Plus Scholarship

Must be a female applicant intending to study one of the following courses:

Mechanical Engineering
Electronic Engineering
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Science
Engineering Design
Engineering Maths
Artificial Intelligence

Vertical Aerospace Black Engineering scholarship

This scholarship is not accepting new applicants as of 2024/25.

You must have one of the following categories of ethnicity:

Black African
Black Caribbean
Black Other
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean
Mixed: White and Black African
Other mixed background (to include Black African, Black Caribbean, or Black Other).

You must study:

Aerospace Engineering
Computer Science
Computer Science and Electronics
Engineering Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering.

You must apply for means-tested support to enable the University to get confirmation of your household income from the Student Loans Company. However, you will not be required to take out any loans you are eligible to receive if you do not wish to take them.

Prospective students who select the University of Bristol as their insurance choice through the UCAS process will not be eligible for the award.

Priority will be given to applicants:

from a low-income household
from areas of low participation in higher education
who have attended an aspiring state school
who are under 25 and have previously been in care
who have a disability
who will be over 21 years old at the start of the course.

Eligibility for multiple awards

The University operates many bursaries and scholarships. To ensure fair distribution of funding it may be necessary to place some restrictions on the receipt of multiple awards.

If you are on the following schemes, you are eligible to receive a Futures scholarship:

If you are on the following schemes, you may not be eligible to receive a Futures scholarship:

These lists are reviewed on an ongoing basis and the University reserves the right to add further scholarships or bursaries at any time to ensure a fair distribution of funding.

Award

Awards to successful candidates will have a value of £7,000.

The award will be split into payments of £2,000 in the first, second and third years.

There is a further £1,000 available as Career Employability funding.

Awards will be paid via BACS in two equal instalments each year.

To receive a payment, you should be:

registered
engaged with your studies
have a good attendance record

The University reserves the right to allocate any payments of the award to any outstanding invoices should a recipient have missed payments due to the University. This is in line with the University’s regulations.

If you started before 2025/26

Your awards have a value of £3,500 if you started before 2025/26. You receive:

£2,000 in the first year
£750 in the second and third years

There is also a further £1,000 available as Career Employability Funding.

Career Employability funding

Recipients will have access to up to £1,000 of funding support for employability opportunities, such as an internship, placement, or summer research programme.

Recipients are responsible for identifying a suitable internship or other opportunity and explaining why it provides a meaningful experience that enhances their employability. They will have the support of the Futures Scholarships Co-ordinator and the Careers Service to explore the opportunities available. The employability opportunity will be agreed upon with the Futures Scholarships Co-ordinator who must approve the release of funding.

This funding support will be paid as most appropriate to the chosen opportunity and will not always be a direct payment to the student. To access the funding, recipients may need to provide evidence, such as receipts, for the Futures Scholarships Co-ordinator to approve.

See the Employability Funding terms and conditions.

The employability funding is flexible and may be taken at different stages of study, depending on individual circumstances, including up to 12 months after graduation.

Reporting and connecting with donors of the scholarship programme

Reporting

This scholarship is funded by donations from alumni and friends of the University. Scholarship recipients of the Futures scholarship (Futures Scholars) must provide update reports throughout their degree to the donors of this programme. This will be coordinated through the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO).

Futures scholars must also engage with and provide updates to the Careers Service when using the career employability funding.

Both DARO and the Careers Service will support Futures Scholars to complete these updates.

Connecting with donors

Futures Scholars will also be invited to take part in activities organised by DARO to thank donors and encourage others to donate and support more students in the future.

Possible activities may include:

providing thank you messages
taking part in photo shoots
featuring in paper and online publications
attending donor events (either online or in person)
opportunities to deliver presentations and speeches at donor events.

We strongly encourage Futures Scholars to get involved in these activities as many students find them an enjoyable way to meet other scholars, develop new skills and learn more about the University community.

How to apply

Apply via the additional funding form.

All applications should be received by the published deadline. The online application form will close once the deadline has passed. There is no appeal process and requests to submit late applications will not be considered.

Application process

The University will make offers of an award to successful candidates.
Prospective students who select the University of Bristol as their insurance choice through the UCAS process will not be eligible for the award.
To ensure that all the awards are made, the University will select students to be on a reserve list for the scholarship. Students who are on the reserve list may be informed at a later date that they have been offered the scholarship, should an award become available. Being placed on the reserve list is not a guarantee of an award.

Timetable

Find out about the timetable on the additional funding page.

Find out more

Please contact scholarships-bursaries@bristol.ac.uk with any queries.