The University of Glasgow announced the series of measures to help asylum-seeking academics in getting education degree at University. The special fellowship programme has launched, with a total annual fund of £10,000. Four students will receive finance maintenance for their studies in Glasgow this year.
University’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor Anton Muscatelli claimed that University of Glasgow will continue to support academics fleeing persecution in own countries.
“We shall be offering four fee waivers – one for each of our Colleges. I know that a number of members of staff have already expressed a desire to offer financial support to refugee students. I would commend this refugee scholarship scheme to them. It will be available through the Giving pages of the Development and Alumni Office”.
However, the number of scholarships is expected to increase in the future. The University, together with CARA (Council for At Risk Academics), will be able to host more refugees and asylum-seeking students in Glasgow and throughout UK. Due to the cooperation between University of Glasgow and CARA, two Syrian students have already taken an opportunity to continue their PhD in Glasgow.
The University’s Clerk of Senate and Vice Principal, John Briggs, said: “The University of Glasgow is proud to be one of the first universities in the UK to introduce a series of measures to support refugee students and those under humanitarian protection. The Refugee Talent Scholarship will support the living costs of refugee undergraduate and postgraduate students. The first two recipients are expected to be announced in the near future”.
Glasgow became first city in the UK hosted Syrian refugees this year. According to the Prime Minister David Cameron, there will be at least 1,000 people hosted in the UK by the end of 2015 and more than 20,000 by 2020.
Professor Alison Phipps, GRAMNet’s (Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network) Co-Convener, who has worked alongside refugee communities for several years, commented: “We are working together with academics, grassroots organizations, policy makers and NGOs to address fundamental issues of migration and particularly, at the moment, refugee crisis. We are touched by the level of response from students and staff at Glasgow University and other universities around Scotland being involved in supporting academics who had been fleeing persecution”.
