Article 26

Application form guidance notes

2021 entry

Before making an application for the Article 26 Sanctuary Scholarship please ensure that you meet the following eligibility criteria. To be eligible to apply for the Article 26 Sanctuary Scholarship:

  • An applicant must meet the academic and any other requirements of their chosen course. This can include but is not limited to matriculation, English proficiency as well as satisfactory references, personal statement or Disclosure and Barring Service check.
  • An applicant must have received an offer of a place on the course before applying for the scholarship.

Applicants must also meet the following criteria:

Applicants must fall into one of the following immigration status groups and be unable to access UK government funding because of their current immigration status:

  • An asylum seeker- a person who has made a claim within the UK.
  • A person who has been granted some form of temporary status such as Humanitarian Protection or Limited Leave to Remain in the UK
  • Dependents or partners of any of the above status groups, whose claim is dependent on a principal applicant.
  • Applicants must be able to provide evidence of their status, under one of the above categories.
  • (Please note some students with temporary status may be eligible for funding under the Long Residency category).
  • Priority will be given to applicants who live within easy commuting distance of Keele University.

Applications will be considered for the following courses:

  • Full time undergraduate degree programmes (these may include a foundation year).
  • Full time or part time postgraduate taught Master’s programmes. (Applicants must be studying a minimum of a Master's qualification; modular courses and the Postgraduate Certificate/Postgraduate Diploma are not eligible).

Please note that the following courses are not eligible for the Article 26 Scholarship:

  • Postgraduate Research and PhD programmes
  • Medicine
  • Veterinary Medicine and Surgery
  • Social Work

If you have any questions or are unsure about your eligibility for the scholarships then please contact us at student.services@keele.ac.uk before applying.

Completing the application form

There are five sections to complete in the application form. Please note that the information you provide in the form will be held and processed in accordance with our Data Protection Policy. 

 

  • 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 surname in the other. You do not need to include your middle names.
  • Please tell us which college, school, 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 already hold, together with the name of the school, college or university where you obtained them.

In making a judgement about your application, the selection panel will partly base their assessment on the answers you provide in Section 2 of the online application form that forms your personal statement. But please be advised that you do not need to give details of the events that led you to seek asylum unless you wish to do so.

Your application for the Article 26 Sanctuary Scholarship is completely confidential and the selection panel will only be able to take into account information that is given in your answers to the four questions. 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 or coming to the UK.

Your supporting Referee will be asked to give a 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 on your application form or in your personal statement.

You will also be asked to provide evidence of your current immigration status in the UK. This could include any recent letters from the Home Office or your Solicitor. If possible, please also provide any evidence of how you plan to support yourself financially whilst studying. This could include evidence of any savings you may have, confirmation of any grants you have applied for from charities, any Government funding you or your family are in receipt of or signed letters from family or friends who have pledged any financial support.

The Referee’s Supporting Statement is an important part of the selection process. Please be sure to include all of 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.
  • 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:
  • What are the applicant’s personal and financial circumstances and what barriers have they overcome to continue their education?
  • How well suited is the applicant to the Higher Education course they plan to take and how realistic are the student’s ambitions?
  • What contribution, to your knowledge, has the student made to a) college life and/or b) their community?
  • Is there any other information that you believe is relevant to the student’s application?
  • How do you think the student would benefit from the support offered by the Article 26 Sanctuary Scholarship at Keele University?
  • Applications will only be accepted for consideration if they are accompanied by the referee’s supporting statement and signature.
  • Please confirm, by selecting the appropriate answer, that you meet the eligibility criteria.
  • Please confirm that should your application be successful, you will inform the University immediately if your circumstances change – for example if your immigration status changes or you become eligible for Student Finance.
  • Please look through the items in the checklist carefully before indicating that you have met all these requirements.

Please complete the equal opportunities monitoring information section of the form – it is important for us to ensure that we are accessible to all students and we will use this information to help monitor whether or not we are reaching a cross section of the student population.

Informing you of the outcome of your application

Applicants are reminded that this is a competitive process and not all applications for the Scholarships will be successful.  

Stage 1:
Following an initial assessment, the University will contact applicants to let them know whether or not their application will progress to the next stage of the selection process.

Stage 2:
Applicants who are shortlisted will be invited to an interview to verify the information they have provided on their application and to give them an opportunity to get to know the University. Applicants will be asked to provide evidence of their immigration status at the application stage and sign a document providing permission for us to share information with the UK Home Office in order to verify eligibility for the scholarship and status in the UK.
Interviews will be held as soon as possible after the closing date.

Stage 3:
Successful applicants will be sent an offer of an Article 26 Sanctuary Scholarship within two weeks of the interview.

For further information on any aspect of completing your application, please email student.services@keele.ac.uk.