Image of student with text about Santander Universities Scholars Programme
The University of Sussex offers a variety of scholarships and funding support that our students can apply for. In November, we also announced that the Student Hardship fund had been doubled in value for this academic year.
Now our partner, Santander Universities, has developed a new scholarship programme aimed at breaking down barriers for the current home students who are most likely to face challenges when accessing higher education. This exciting new programme provides consistent funding through to graduation, alongside training opportunities to develop potential and help build brighter futures.
Nationally, the Santander Universities Scholars Programme will support 100 current full-time undergraduate students, due to graduate in 2025, who identify as part of an underrepresented group throughout the duration of their studies. There is at least one guaranteed place for a Sussex student.
The scholars will receive £30k of funding over three academic years, a series of employability training and development sessions and a dedicated mentor to guide them through the programme.
Eligibility criteria
To be eligible to apply, you must meet the following criteria:
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You must be aged 18 or older.
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You must be a current full-time undergraduate student at one of Santander Universities’ partner universities, such as the University of Sussex, completing your undergraduate course in 2025. Any degree discipline is welcome.
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You must self-identify as part of at least 1 of the following under-represented groups (guidance has been taken from the Office for Students’ existing list of underrepresented groups):
- Students from areas of low higher education participation, low household income or low socioeconomic status
- Black, Asian and minority ethic students
- Mature students
- Disabled students
- Care experienced students
- Carers
- Students estranged from their families
- Students from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities
- Refugees
- Students from military families.
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You must qualify as a Home Fee Status student.
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You must not be receiving more than £1,500 per year in external sponsorship for your degree. For example, this might be from other sources such as industry bodies/employers (University Core Bursaries and Government grants do not affect your eligibility).
Applications opened on 22 November 2022 and will close at 11pm (GMT) on 31 January 2023.
New online learning platform available to Sussex students
In addition to the new scholarship scheme, Santander Universities is launching the Santander Learning Room, an online learning platform that will enable UK adults to continually learn.
The platform contains 10,000 learning assets including a range of podcasts, audiobooks, eBooks, videos, courses and more. By signing up to the platform, you can access four items per month for free and personalise your learning experience based on the topics you want to learn.