Scholarship to support North East students

A new scholarship is set to help students from the North East access higher education.

Durham University chancellor Dr Fiona Hill has launched the scholarship, which will award £5000 per year for up to four years to six students across two cohorts in 2025 and 2026. 

The scholarship is open to applicants from the North East with a household income below £42,875, with those from Bishop Auckland, Dr Hill’s hometown, particularly encouraged to apply.

Dr Hill, the daughter of a coal miner and midwife, credits a £100 grant from the Durham Miners’ Association in the early 1980s for kick-starting her own academic journey.

Having attended Bishop Barrington Comprehensive School, in Bishop Auckland, she went on to study at St Andrew’s University and Harvard University before becoming a foreign affairs advisor to US presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump during his first term in office.

She said: “If it wasn’t for that money, I would never have been able to afford to go on a course to study Russian, which then led me to studying at university.   

“Education is a great equaliser, but only if people have access to it. 

“Scholarships like these can make it more accessible for everyone.”   

Now a defence advisor to the Government, Dr Hill hopes the initiative will “give back” and support students facing financial barriers.

She added: “Going to university isn’t something that everybody wants to do. 

“For those that do, finances shouldn’t be stopping them.   

“Everything I’m doing in my career is the result of a lot of people helping me along the way, which is why I feel very deeply about helping others to achieve their potential.”   

Professor Karen O’Brien, vice-chancellor of Durham University, added: “Our chancellor’s scholarship greatly supports Durham University in its ambition to make it possible for the brightest students from the North East to study with us. 

“We are very grateful to Dr Hill for generously funding this new scholarship.”  

The Fiona Hill Scholarship joins a growing number of support schemes at Durham University, which recently introduced an Access and Participation Plan to improve inclusivity and opportunities for students from under-represented backgrounds.

One such student to benefit is Charle Cooper, a fourth year physics student from Hartlepool, who is the first person in his immediate family to attend university. 

Charlie has received funding from the North East scholarship scheme throughout his time at Durham.   

Coincidently, one of the things the scholarship has afforded Charlie is enrolment on a Russian language course, following in the footsteps of Dr Hill.  

He added: “Without the help of the scholarship, I don’t believe my university experience would have been as fulfilling as it could have been.”   

To find out more about Dr Hill and her inspiring story of a miner’s daughter turned renowned Russia expert, read her interview with our sister publication, N, here.

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