UCLan pledges commitment to refugees and asylum seekers by becoming a supporting organisation of the City of Sanctuary

This means that UCLan is officially a welcome place of safety and will offer sanctuary to people fleeing violence and persecution.

As part of its commitment to help, UCLan has created and launched the Sanctuary Scholarship, which will waive the three-year undergraduate fees, currently £9,250 per year, and offer a support package up to £5,000 per annum.

The new scholarship will be awarded to one sanctuary seeking student per year who is not eligible to access student finance and who is living no more than 30 miles away from one of UCLan’s three North West campuses.

Dr Liz Granger, UCLan’s Head of Widening Participation and Public Engagement, said: “Our commitment to widening participation is ingrained in everything we do and throughout our history we have actively supported those people who face barriers in accessing higher education.

“We are a major civic institution, not only in Preston, Burnley or Westlakes, but further afield across Lancashire and the North West, and we take our role to help everyone achieve their academic potential seriously.

“We will aim to work closely with the cities of sanctuary in Preston and Burnley to explore how we can best learn, embed and share our efforts to create an inclusive environment for those seeking sanctuary and support students from this background.”

The pledge was signed by Vice-Chancellor Professor Graham Baldwin.

If you are a refugee or asylum seeker, or work with these groups, click here for more information.