Sir Bob Murray Health Scholarship 2024/25

Overview

We are delighted to partner with Sir Bob Murray CBE, businessman and former chairman of Sunderland AFC, to create five scholarships at the University of Sunderland. The scholarships aim to transform the lives of five eligible first-year undergraduate students.

The Sir Bob Murray Health Scholarship 2024/25 offers a cash award of £1,000 for undergraduate students who:

• are a first-year undergraduate student in 2024/25
• are studying an eligible course (see course list below)
• meet at least one of the widening participation priority awarding criteria

There are five scholarships available. These will be allocated according to the criteria below, prioritising students currently under-represented in higher education.

This scholarship is funded from a philanthropic donation via the University of Sunderland’s Development and Alumni Office. By applying for this scholarship, you agree to participate in PR/marketing activity if awarded.

Who's eligible?

1. You must be a 'Home', 'Refugee', or 'Overseas Island' student on an eligible course

The Government classes all students as ‘Home’ or ‘International’. This status determines which tuition fees you pay, and which bursaries, scholarships and awards you are eligible to receive.

Overseas Island; Isle of Man and the Channel Islands students are eligible for this scholarship.

Asylum seekers and students with refugee status are eligible for this scholarship.

EU students with UK Settled Status at the time of application are eligible for this scholarship.

If you are an ‘International’ student, you are not eligible for this scholarship.

2. You must apply for and meet the conditions of your offer, then successfully enrol onto an eligible course

You must enrol on one of the following University of Sunderland courses in academic year 2024/25:

3. You have an annual household income of £47,500 or less

If we need to verify your household income as part of your application, you must have undertaken a means-tested Student Loans Company (SLC) assessment. You must also agree to share your data with the University via the SLC. The University will liaise with the SLC to verify household income.

4. You are the first person in your family to enter Higher Education (first generation)

During the enrolment process, the University of Sunderland will verify ‘first generation’ evidence.

5. You reside in a low participation neighbourhood (POLAR 4: Quintiles 1 and 2)

During the enrolment process, the University of Sunderland will verify this based on your postcode. This will be based on your address at the time of applying to the University of Sunderland.

How to apply

If you are starting an undergraduate course in autumn 2024, you can apply for this bursary from March 2024. The deadline for applications is Saturday 31 August 2024.

You can apply for this scholarship via your myApplication account. There are five scholarships available. Please note that applying for this scholarship does not guarantee that you will receive it.

Awarding the scholarship

The University of Sunderland Sir Bob Murray Health Scholarship will be awarded following an application and ranking process based on the priority awarding criteria.

To be considered for this scholarship, you must enrol onto your course by Friday 27 September 2024.

Please note, priority will be given to students who meet the greatest number of eligibility criteria.

Receiving the scholarship

Once scholarships have been allocated, the successful students will be notified via email of their provisional award in November 2024.

Students awarded the scholarship will receive one payment in year one of study on Friday 7 February 2025.

This scholarship is awarded as cash and paid via bank transfer.

This payment will be made into a UK bank account of your choice. It is your responsibility to enter your bank details onto your myApplication account so that this payment can then be processed to you.

The University agrees to pay you, the student, all scholarships, and payments that are awarded and due to you whilst you are on your programme of study.

If you fail to enter your bank details to enable the payment to be made to you before your course end date (or your date of leaving your programme of study if earlier), this scholarship and payment will be withdrawn and will no longer be due.

The scholarship payment is conditional on you maintaining satisfactory engagement and making academic progress in your programme of study in the reasonable opinion of the Programme Team. If you withdraw from your course before receiving a scholarship payment, the scholarship offer will be withdrawn.

If you withdraw in the same academic year after receiving your scholarship payment, you will be required to return the funding to the donor.

The University agrees to pay to you, the student, all scholarships & bursaries, and payments that are awarded and due to you whilst you are on your programme of study.  If a scholarship or bursary payment is made to you in error, the University reserves the right to recover any awards or overpayments from you, the student. This may result in you being asked to repay an award if it was paid to you in error. It is also the responsibility of you, the student, to ensure that all awards and payments received are accurate. Any payment discrepancies will be rectified by the University or the student.

Please note, once provisional awards are made, the Development and Alumni Office will contact awardees via registered contact details. If you do not respond, we reserve the right to re-allocate funding. If you do not supply us with the required information, including any evidence you have been asked to submit, and the scholarship award cannot be paid in early February 2025, the scholarship offer will be withdrawn.

If you transfer to a course not listed above, you will not be eligible for this scholarship.

This scholarship will only be payable if all tuition fee payments are up to date and there are no monies owed to the University.

If you have an outstanding university debt of £50 or more, you will not receive the scholarship until the debt has been cleared.

As part of the admissions process, the University will verify various aspects of a UCAS or direct application to determine that you should be classed as ‘Home’. The following criteria will be verified:

• Declared nationality
• Country of birth
• Area of permanent residence
• Date of entry into the UK (if applicable)
• Location of previous education

Disclaimer

Every effort is made to ensure that all details included in these guidance notes are correct at the time of writing. They are intended to act as an information source only for potential scholarship, bursary or award applicants and in no way should they be considered legally binding or guarantee an award of a scholarship, bursary or award.

The University will not be deemed to be in breach of any legal or contractual obligations due to changes to eligibility criteria beyond the reasonable control of the University. It should therefore be noted that these guidance notes are regularly reviewed and are naturally subject to change from time to time sometimes without notice. The University’s decision is final.

Appendix 1 – Evidencing priority criteria

Published: 27 November 2023