Sanctuary Scholarship

Overview

We are pleased to offer scholarships for forced migrants to the UK. The Sanctuary Scholarship is open to people who wish to study any undergraduate or postgraduate taught degree.

The scholarship covers the full cost of tuition and £10,000 a year towards study costs.

There are a limited number of scholarships available. Successful applicants will be chosen using a set of selection criteria before a shortlisted group will be invited to interview. Successful applicants will not have to repay any of the money they receive through the scholarship.

The Sanctuary Scholarship for 2023 entry will open in early March 2023 and will remain open until May 2023 (exact dates will be confirmed in early 2023).

Degrees you can study

You can apply for this scholarship if you have an offer or intend to study any of the following degrees full-time or part-time:

• Any undergraduate degree (including foundation degrees) starting in September 2023

• Any postgraduate taught degree starting in September 2023 or January 2024

Unfortunately, PGR/PhD study is not eligible for Sanctuary Scholarship funding.

Are you eligible to apply?

To apply for this scholarship you must:

• Be a forced migrant to the United Kingdom (a person displaced from their homeland or place of residence for political, economic, ethnic, environmental, or human rights pressures)

• Be unable to access mainstream funding, for example from Student Finance England or a local authority grant

• Have already applied to study at the University in the 2023/24 academic year – you must have received your offer by the scholarship closing date in May 2023.

• Not have a degree from a UK university of the same level or higher that you wish to study at Leeds in 2023/24

As well as meeting all of the above criteria, you also will need to have the residency status of one of the following:

• Asylum Seeker – currently seeking asylum within the UK or Refused Asylum Seeker where your application for refugee status has been denied and a fresh claim is in process

• Refugee status or the spouse or child of someone with refugee status

• Limited or Discretionary leave to remain

• Humanitarian Protection status or the spouse or child of someone with Humanitarian Protection status

• Indefinite leave to remain 

• Section 67 Leave

• Calais Leave

• Granted leave in the UK under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) or the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS)

• Granted leave in the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme, the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme or the Ukraine Extension Scheme.