Warwick offers scholarships to refugees

The university has pledged to offer scholarships to 20 refugee students seeking a higher education place in the United Kingdom.

In a statement on Warwick Insite, Vice Chancellor Professor Sir Nigel Thrift and Provost Stuart Croft, said that ten scholarships would be offered this year, and another ten during the 2016-2017 academic year.

The university is working with Article 26, a project under the Helena Kennedy foundation, a charity focusing on social inclusion and widening participation in higher education. Article 26 will assist with promoting the scholarship opportunities and identifying applicants to whom university can award a place.

The scholarships are said to be a mixture of undergraduate and postgraduate places. This year, the majority of scholarships offered are likely to be for postgraduate students, as recruitment for these places will take place beyond the start of the academic year.

This announcement comes after a recent joint letter from Thrift and Warwick Students’ Union President Isaac Leigh, which stated that “it is deeply saddening to see the desperate situation that so many refugees are facing.”

The letter adds that the SU and university will work with the chaplaincy in order to provide support for the new students with refugee status.

“Some of our friends in the Warwick community are here because this country welcomed them when they needed support. We must continue this tradition, for refugees can – and do – become leaders, be it in medicine, academia, politics and more,” says the statement.

The students questioned for this article appear to support the university’s actions, but feel as if more could be done.

This is the biggest refugee crisis since Word War II and in the broader picture, 20 scholarships is hardly life-changing,” says Simran Thakral, a second-year Politics and International Studies undergraduate.

She continued: “It’s still quite heartwarming to hear that Warwick is to take the initiative to provide whatever support it can to the refugees, as previously it wasn’t really known for its bursaries, financial aid or scholarships to non-UK and non-EU students.”

Mehma Bagga, a second-year Economics undergraduate, says that it “makes me makes me feel proud to be studying here.”

She added that  she believes the new scholarship students will be “talented enough to make a significant change in the community or in the world even, but who can’t do so just because they don’t possess adequate finances.

“I think it’s wonderful and extremely worthy of praise that Warwick has decided to give a handful of the [worthiest] students a chance to build their future.”

Thrift and Croft’s statement states that individuals can contribute by donating towards providing scholarships for the new students.