Accredited in 2018, UEA is proud to be a University of Sanctuary where they welcome refugees and asylum-seekers fleeing violence and persecution to help them rebuild their lives. They aim to provide life-changing opportunities regardless of a person’s background, and offer safety, solidarity, and empowerment to those in need.

2023 sees over 108 million people forcibly displaced around the world. In this context, UEA has received a record number of outstanding applications for its sanctuary scholarships. Currently they can only support 4% of the applications they receive with a scholarship.

The asylum process is unpredictable and often long, and many of their sanctuary scholars find that their immigration status means that they can neither work nor access Student Finance England. This makes them solely reliant on the financial support from UEA’s University of Sanctuary initiative. Without this financial provision, they would be unable to embark on a life-changing opportunity at UEA.

They need your help to change this.

They know that scholarships allow survivors of violence and persecution to start rebuilding their lives. Once at the UEA, they work with sanctuary scholars to ensure they are fully supported so that they can thrive. Their sanctuary scholars receive full tuition fee support, and are awarded a yearly bursary towards living costs and course-related expenses. Read on to hear more about their crowdfunder and Bahara’s moving story of how a scholarship has changed her life.