Overview
Funded from a philanthropic donation via the University of Sunderland’s Development and Alumni Office, the Helen McArdle Scholarship aims to support undergraduate students studying an eligible Nursing course. Each scholarship offers a cash award of £1,200 per year.
There are five scholarships available. These will be allocated according to the criteria below.
By applying for this scholarship, you agree to participate in PR/marketing activity if awarded.
Who's eligible?
1. You must be a 'Home' 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 scholarships and bursaries you may be eligible to receive.
Overseas Island; Isle of Man and the Channel Islands students are eligible.
EU students with a UK Settled Status at the time of application are eligible.
International students are not eligible.
You must be a first-year student applying to commence your studies in autumn 2025.
2. You must apply for and meet the conditions of your offer, then successfully enrol onto an eligible course
You must successfully enrol onto one of the following eligible full-time courses in academic year 2025/26:
- BSc (Hons) Adult Nursing Practice
- BSc (Hons) Mental Health Nursing Practice
- BSc (Hons) Children’s and Young People’s Nursing Practice
3. Priority will be given to scholarship applicants who have been employed by Helen McArdle Care or their family member have previously been employed by Helen McArdle Care
The Helen McArdle Nursing Scholarship Trustees will verify that scholarship applicants have previously been employed by Helen McArdle Care, or their family member has been employed by Helen McArdle Care.
4. Secondary awarding priority will be given to students who are the first in their family to enter higher education (first generation) or are mature students with family commitments
During the enrolment process, the University will verify ‘first generation’ evidence.
Mature students (aged 21+) with family commitments will be verified via an application for the NHS Learning Support Fund. For the scholarship, we are defining family commitments as having parental responsibility for a child who is under 15 years of age at the start of the academic year, or under 17 years of age if the child is registered with special educational needs.
5. Tertiary awarding priority will be given to students who meet any of the widening participation priority awarding criteria
When awarding this scholarship, priority will be given to applicants from the following under-represented groups:
- Care-experienced student
- Estranged student aged under 25 at the start of the course
- Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman or Boater
- Asylum seeker or refugee
- Carer
- Low household income (equal to or below £27,500 per annum)
- Low household income (between £27,501 and £47,500 per annum)
- Mature student (aged 21 or over at the start of the course)
Please note, if we need to verify your household income as part of your bursary 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.
Scholarship applicants may be contacted during the awarding process to verify widening participation criteria.
How to apply
You can apply from March 2025. The deadline for applications is Sunday 31 August 2025. Once the deadline has passed, we are not permitted to accept any further applications.
You can apply via your myApplication account.
Your username is your student number, which can be found on all correspondence you have received from the University. If you are unsure of your student number, please contact Student Administration at studentadmin@sunderland.ac.uk.
As part of the application process, you must submit a statement describing your current circumstances and how this award will support your studies if successful.
Please note that applying does not guarantee you will be awarded this scholarship.
Receiving the scholarship
The Helen McArdle Nursing Scholarship will be awarded following an application and ranking process based on the priority awarding criteria.
Once scholarships have been allocated, the successful students will be notified via email of their provisional award in November 2025.
A cash award of £1,200 will be paid to you on the fifth working day of February 2026. Subsequent awards will be subject to satisfactory progression as confirmed with the School of Nursing.
Please note, priority will be given to students who meet the greatest number of eligibility criteria.
The scholarship cash payments will be paid via bank transfer into your UK bank account via the University’s Development Trust.
Additional information
If you have not registered on your course within three weeks of the course start date or provided sufficient evidence of eligibility, the scholarship or bursary will be withdrawn and offered to another eligible student.
If you do not supply us with the required information by February 2026, the scholarship provisional award will be withdrawn.
If you withdraw from your course before receiving a scholarship or bursary payment, the award will be withdrawn. If you transfer to a course not listed above, you will not be eligible for this scholarship.
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 award is conditional on you maintaining satisfactory engagement and making academic progress on your course in the reasonable opinion of the Programme Team.
If you repeat a year of the same course, the award will not be paid in the repeated year. Any payments due to you will continue once you progress onto the following level (s) of study on the course.
If you are in debt to the University to the value of £50 or more, you will not receive payment until the debt has been cleared.
All payments will be made into your UK bank account. It is your responsibility to enter your bank details and ensure these are kept up to date. If you fail to enter your bank details to enable payments to be made to you before your course end date (or the date of leaving your course if earlier), all scholarships, bursaries, and payments will be withdrawn.
Income assessed applications will be based on the Student Loans Company’s definition and assessment of household income. Your declared household income will be checked and verified. Bursaries will only be offered to those students who have a household income of £47,500 or less.
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 provider
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, and in no way should they be considered legally binding or guarantee an 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, sometimes without notice. The University’s decision is final.
Appendix
Use the information below to determine what evidence will be required as proof of priority group:
You are a Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman or Boater
This can be verified by one of the following:
- By a teacher or adviser
- Evidence of UK residency
You are an asylum seeker
This can be verified by one of the following:
- Currently attending a school, college, community or voluntary group where a teacher or adviser can provide a reference in support of your application
- A letter from an immigration solicitor/legal advisor
- Evidence of eligible immigration status either in your own right or as a dependent of someone with one of the following statuses: UK asylum seeker, UK discretionary leave to remain (because of an asylum application), UK limited leave to remain (because of an asylum application), Granted Humanitarian Protection
- Evidence of UK residency
You are a refugee
Your refugee status can be verified using Home Office documents.
You have caring responsibilities
This can be verified by one of the following:
- By a teacher, adviser or GP that you are a carer who has caring responsibilities for an average of 15 hours per week
- You can provide proof of your average of 15 hours per week caring responsibilities
- You are in receipt of Carer’s Allowance
You have an annual household income of £27,500 or less
If you are a ‘Home’ student who has applied for means-tested loans and grants from the Student Loans Company (SLC), the University will liaise with the SLC to verify your household income.
You have an annual household income between £27,501 and £47,500
If you are a ‘Home’ student who has applied for means-tested loans and grants from the Student Loans Company (SLC), the University will liaise with the SLC to verify your household income.
You are a mature student (aged 21+ on 1 September 2025)
Your student record will evidence this using your date of birth, following your application and enrolment.
You are care-experienced
Our definition of care-experienced is someone who, at any stage of their life, and for any length of time, has been in care e.g. looked after by the local authority. For further information please contact the We Care Team on 0191 515 2216 or email care.contact@sunderland.ac.uk.
You are an estranged student
Evidence can be supplied by Student Finance England or proof of ‘genuine estrangement’ will be requested.
Published: 31 October 2024