Warwick uni offering scholarships to 20 Syrian refugees

Old Thrifty has done something nice for a change


Warwick uni have promised to offer 20 scholarships to refugees fleeing Syria.

The 20 scholarships are to be staggered over two years, with 10 available immediately for the 2015/16 academic year.

These 10 are expected to be allocated primarily to postgraduate students, while a further 10 available in the 2016/17 academic year will be more evenly distributed between undergraduates and postgraduates.

Each of the scholarships will be worth £25,000, bringing the total pledged by the university to £500,000 over the next two years.

The university’s policy regarding the scholarships is set to undergo review at the completion of the 2016/17 year.

I can be your hero, baby

The act will be one of the more fondly remembered gestures of goodwill made by outgoing Vice Chancellor Nigel Thrift.

As the news was announced Thrift said: “We strongly believe that we as a university community have an inherent responsibility to try to shape a more accepting society and we must never neglect that responsibility.”

Asylum-seekers are currently not allowed to work in the UK, nor are they entitled to the same loans and grants normally used to help fund the expensive costs of British higher education.

Warwick has joined the University of East London and the University of Sheffield in the creation of scholarships specifically for the refugees amid calls British universities should do more to alleviate, what is rapidly becoming, the most serious displacement of people since the Second World War.