Overview
The University of Sunderland recognises the academic achievements of students applying to our undergraduate courses. To acknowledge this, we will be awarding up to 130 scholarships of £3,000; £2,400 credit and £600 cash. Awards will be made to those with the largest increase in their academic achievement between their GCSE grades and their Level 3 qualification results. This is to reward students who may not have achieved the grades they expected in their GCSEs but are back on track with their Level 3 qualifications.
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.
Students who already hold an undergraduate degree are not eligible.
You must be a first-year student applying to commence your studies in autumn 2025.
You are not eligible if you have been funded by the Enhanced Learning Credits Administration Service (ELCAS).
You are not eligible if you are in receipt of a Troops to Teaching Bursary.
2. You must apply for and meet the conditions of your offer, then successfully enrol onto and study a relevant course
You must successfully enrol onto an eligible course in academic year 2025/26.
Some University of Sunderland courses are not eligible for these scholarships due to the additional funding available to students studying these courses. These include:
- Medicine MBChB
- Midwifery Practice
- Occupational Therapy
- Occupational Therapy Accelerated
- Physiotherapy
- Paramedic Science and Out of Hospital Care
- Social Work
- Adult Nursing Practice
- Mental Health Nursing Practice
- Children’s and Young People’s Nursing Practice
- Nursing Practice (Top-up)
How to apply
You can apply from March 2025. The deadline for applications is Thursday 31 July 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.
Please note that applying does not guarantee you will be awarded this scholarship.
Assessment and awarding process
You must have studied your Level 3 qualifications in the same academic year as applying for your university course.
The University of Sunderland will use your five highest scoring GCSEs and rank your grades against your Level 3 qualifications. This process will be used to establish those with the largest increase in their academic achievement.
Your GCSE qualifications will only be considered if they have been awarded in the last three years; 2022/23, 2023/24 or 2024/25. This is to ensure fair awarding to all scholarship applicants.
When applying for this scholarship you must provide evidence of your five highest scoring GCSE grades to accompany your application.
Only GCSE qualification grades will be accepted for this scholarship application.
It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that this evidence is correctly provided at the time of the scholarship application.
Successful scholarship applicants will be notified via email to inform them of their provisional award in October 2025. Following enrolment onto an eligible University of Sunderland course, and confirmation of satisfactory evidence, scholarship awards will be confirmed.
Each scholarship award is worth £3,000. The scholarship award will be made in termly instalments in academic years one, two and three. Successful applicants will receive £333.33 per academic term: £266.67 credit and £66.67 cash.
If you are awarded a scholarship, you can spend your credit on materials to support your studies from the online store. You can also top-up your account with additional funds to spend on a range of learning resources and everyday living items.
You will receive your cash and credit on the fifth working day of November, February and April each academic year.
Your award is intended to support you with any of the following:
- Travel costs – including public transport, petrol, vehicle costs such as insurance, maintenance, other costs such as parking, tolls.
- Digital – IT equipment including laptops, tablets, specialist software and digital connectivity such as broadband costs.
- Childcare costs – related to additional childcare needs for attending university and/or placement.
- Other expenses – such as books, specialist equipment and essential course materials.
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 November 2025, the scholarship or bursary 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 withdraw after a payment is made, the University will not seek reimbursement however, you will not receive any further instalments.
The award is conditional on you maintaining satisfactory engagement and making academic progress on your course in the reasonable opinion of the programme team.
The University agrees to pay you, the student, all awards, and payments that are due to you while you are on your course 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.
If you transfer to another course, or you repeat a year of the same course, the award will not be made 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 on a placement year or studying for a year and not paying full fees, the award will not be paid during that year.
If you take a leave of absence (LOAB), your payments will stop until you return and progress academically.
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.
All credit can be rolled forward to the next academic year (s) up until the end of the course (or date of leaving the course if earlier).
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.
Published: 18 October 2024