Sanctuary Scholarship Award Application form guidance notes

Background Information

Aberystwyth University provides Sanctuary scholarships to enable individuals seeking sanctuary/ asylum or other forced migrant background to access study at University. Successful applicants for the Sanctuary Scholarship Award at Aberystwyth University will be provided with:

  • Tuition Fee Remission: Successful applicants will be offered a tuition fee-remitted place at Aberystwyth University until such time as they are awarded status that entitles them to access student finance.
  • Living Costs Support Fund: Successful applicants will be offered a £8000 a year (for three years) bursary to help with living and course costs.
  • On-Campus Accommodation: Successful applicants who want to reside on campus will not be required to pay for University accommodation.
  • Personal Support: In addition to fee remission, support will be developed for each student to enable them to identify and overcome barriers to achievement on their degree programme and for their future careers.

How to apply

  • Read these guidance notes fully before completing the application form.
  • Ensure you have completed the application form and have provided a supporting statement from your referee.
  • Please submit your completed application form, supporting statement and your referee's supporting statement via the online form.  If you cannot upload your supporting statement to the form please contact our Student Support team on sanctuary@aber.ac.uk  as you may be able to send it via post or email instead. 

Completing the application form

There are five sections to complete in the application form. Please note that the information you provide on the form will be held and processed in accordance with our Data Protection Policy. We may need to share some information about your application with other teams at the university to ensure that your application is seamless. Notes on how to complete each individual question on the application form are provided below. Please read these to ensure you are giving the correct information.

Section 1: Personal details

  • Please complete the personal information section of the form – we need this information to contact you about your application.
  • Please ensure that you put your name as you would want to see it on, for example, a certificate, with your first name in one box and your second name (or family name) in the other box.
  • Please tell us which college, school or community or voluntary organisation you currently attend and which course or courses you are studying (if appropriate). If you are not currently studying, please give details of any qualifications that you have.

Applicant’s Personal Statement

When answering the questions in the personal statement section of the form please consider that the selection panel will base their assessment on:

  • Your personal and family circumstances and the barriers that you have faced in continuing your education - with particular reference to your current status in the UK
  • Your ambitions for the future, why you have chosen your course of study and how the Sanctuary Scholarship Award will help you to achieve your ambitions
  • What additional support will you need whilst at university? For example, do you have a disability? (Please note disclosure of this will not affect your application negatively. At Aberystwyth University we welcome applications from disabled students but we encourage you to disclose your disability, so you receive the right support).

Your application for the Sanctuary Scholarship Award is completely confidential and the selection panel will only be able to consider information that you provide on your application form. Whilst the selection panel do need some details of personal circumstances, we do not need to know about the circumstances that led to you seeking asylum in UK if you do not wish to provide this information, although it may help in some circumstances. Your supporting referee will be asked to give a supporting statement about you but if there is any information that you feel should be taken into account when your application is considered you must include it in your personal statement.

Declaration of eligibility and checklist

  • Please confirm, by ticking the appropriate box, that you meet the eligibility criteria.
  • Please confirm that, should your application be successful, you will inform our Student Services team immediately if your circumstances change.
  • Please look through the items in the checklist carefully and tick to indicate that you have met all these requirements. Note that all boxes must be ticked to be considered for interview.

Referee’s Supporting Statement

The Referee’s Supporting Statement is an important part of the selection process. This should NOT be completed by the applicant. Please be sure to include all the requested information and any other information that you believe should be taken into consideration by the selection panel. It is the responsibility of the applicant to provide their referee with a copy of their personal statement.

When completing the referee’s supporting statement please consider the following:

  • The referee providing the supporting statement must provide their contact details and confirm that the school, college or community or voluntary group that they represent wishes to support the student’s application. Note that we may contact the referee without informing you.
  • The student’s application will not be accepted without a supporting statement. 

The Referee’s Supporting Statement should be no more than 500 words and should cover the following:

  1. How well suited is the applicant to the University course they plan to take and how realistic are the student’s ambitions?
  2. What contribution, to your knowledge, has the student made to a) college life and / or b) their community?
  3. Is there any other information that you believe is relevant to the student’s application?
  4. How do you think the student would benefit from the support offered by the Aberystwyth University Sanctuary Scholarship Award?

Applications will only be accepted for consideration if they are accompanied by the referee’s supporting statement and signature.

Informing you of the outcome of your application

  • Please note that this is a competitive process; as such it may be the case that not all applications will be successful. There is no appeals process; if you are not successful the panel’s decision is final. You are welcome to reapply next year if you are unsuccessful.
  • Following initial assessment after the closing date the University will contact you to let you know whether your application will progress to the next stage of the selection process.
  • If your application is taken forward, you will be invited to attend an interview to verify the information you have provided in your application.
  • If you are successful in being offered an Aberystwyth University Scholarship Award you will be informed within two weeks of your interview.

For further information on any aspect of completing your application please email the team at sanctuary@aber.ac.uk