University partnership providing scholarships for North East carers

The North East has a higher number of care leavers than the UK average, but a progression rate into higher education that is lower than the national average.

Northumbria University has been awarded a grant from the Welland Trust to raise the aspirations of care experienced students studying within the region’s Further Education colleges.

“The project is aimed at enabling more care experienced people to attend higher education, which is a key strategic aim of the Welland Trust. It’s an exciting new development within the North East, which we would love to see rolled out to other areas of the UK.”

Polly Jones, Volunteer Project Development Manager, Welland Trust.

Delivered in collaboration with the North East Raising Aspiration Partnership (NERAP), the funding will enable 30 students to access events to increase their awareness of university life. It will also provide scholarships to enable the students to study at Northumbria University.

“The Welland Trust’s grant to Northumbria University will play a key role in helping us to achieve our ambition to encourage more care-experienced people from the region to attend university. The project is specifically aimed at supporting young mature care experienced students, aged 21-25, which is notable gap in provision both regionally and nationally.’

Kate Murray, Head of Regional Partnerships (Widening Participation), North East Raising Aspiration Partnership.

Northumbria is one of five universities in the region working with NERAP to establish a Care Leavers’ Covenant. This pilot, which is the first of its type in England, brings together key stakeholders in the region and the national charity, BECOME, to support the journeys of those with care experience into higher education.

“This collaboration strengthens Northumbria’s commitment to tackling inequality and improving social mobility. The recent award from the Welland Trust further builds on the strong relationships Northumbria is developing with charitable trusts and foundations that share its ambition to transform the lives of current and future students.”

Dr Lynette Shotton, Department of Social Work, Education and Community Well-being, Northumbria University.

This project is one of the initiatives being delivered with money raised by Northumbria University’s fundraising campaign, Higher Education Without Barriers.

Northumbria is partnering with alumni, businesses, and other supporters to establish a fund that will provide a range of financial initiatives, mental health and wellbeing services, and community-based projects to make participation and progression in higher education more achievable for academically talented students, regardless of their social or economic circumstances.

To find out how you can get involved, contact Sue Vout (Trust and Foundation Manager) at: sue.vout@northumbria.ac.uk