Balliol have launched a scholarship for refugees

They’ll cover all of the cost


Balliol College are introducing a scholarship scheme for anyone with refugee status to study and live for free in Oxford.

The scheme, beginning in the next academic year, will cover the tuition fees, college fees and provide a maintenance grant. It also pays for a return flight to outside of the UK every year of their study. Both the JCR and MCR voted unanimously in favour of the scholarship.

The college has said applicants must meet good English requirements, as well as hold “excellent grades, and to have met, or be predicted to meet, the minimum academic entry requirements for [the] chosen course”.

In a statement published on the college’s website, JCR President Annie Williamson said: “Education is a fundamental tool to empowerment, but higher education opportunities are snatched away from refugees, who face great uncertainty about whether they can ever return to study – even the most able students. There are currently over 20 million refugees worldwide, and Balliol JCR and MCR have responded to this crisis in the small way that we can, by establishing the Balliol Student Scholarship.”

Balliol is the first college to launch such a scheme, but universities across the country have been running similar programs.