Eligibility

You must meet all the essential eligibility criteria in order to apply and receive a Bristol Master's Scholarship. To be eligible you must:

• have applied to study a full-time master's programme (MA, MSc, LLM or MRes) at the University of Bristol that commences in the coming autumn
• be studying full-time on a one-year or two-year postgraduate taught programme
• be eligible for home tuition fees
• have already achieved (or are predicted) a 2:1 or first-class undergraduate degree

Applicants for PGCE, PG CERT, PG DIP and (MSc) (R) programmes are not eligible for the Bristol Master's Scholarship.

In addition, you must be from a group that is underrepresented in Bristol's taught master's population and so meet one or more of the following widening participation criteria:

• have asylum seeker/refugee status issued by the UK Home Office
• have been previously eligible for free school meals
• have once been a care leaver (spent three months or more in local authority care). This can include: with foster carers under local authority care, in a residential children's home, being 'looked after at home' under a supervision order, living with friends or relatives in kinship care.
• have completed an undergraduate University of Bristol Widening Participation scheme
• have a disability
• be from an ethnic minority background
• be a military veteran or child of a military family
• bereaved of or estranged from both parents and under the age of 25. A student is defined as estranged from their parents if they have had no communication or functioning relationship with either parent, and no physical or financial support from then for at least 12 months
• have caring responsibilities. We define a carer as anyone who has a commitment to providing unpaid care for a family member or friend who could not cope without their support. This may be due to illness, disability, a mental health issue or substance misuse.
• have dependent children, defined as those living with their parent(s) who are either aged under 16 or 16 to 18 years and in full-time education (excluding children aged 16 to 18 who have a spouse, partner or child living in their household).
• have been out of Higher Education for 3 years or more
• are the first in the family to go to Higher Education.

You will ultimately need an unconditional offer to study and to meet any conditions before the scholarship is finalised.

Scholarships

Each successful Bristol Master's Scholarships awardee will receive £2,000, which is payable in two equal instalments:

• £1,000 (mid-October 2024)
• £1,000 (mid-January 2025)

Successful awardees undertaking a two-year full-time programme will only receive the scholarship in the first year of study.

Award distribution

Applicants must meet the essential eligibility criteria to be considered for the scholarships.

To ensure fair distribution of the available funding, scholarships will be awarded using a scoring system based on the widening participation criteria.

When selecting the successful scholarship recipients, other awards students may hold will be considered.

Recipients of the following awards will be eligible for a Bristol Master's Scholarship:

• a University of Bristol Alumni discount

Recipients of the following awards will not be eligible for a Bristol Master's Scholarship:

• Access Postgrad fee waivers
• Black Bristol fee waivers
• University of Bristol Sanctuary Scholarship

The University's decision will consider the needs of the entire student body and as such, will be final with no appeal process.

How to apply

If you have already applied to study a full-time master's programme (MA, MSc, LLM or MRes) at the University starting in autumn 2024, you can complete the online application form to apply for the Bristol Master's Scholarship.

Deadline

The deadline is midday on 31 May 2024.

The online application form will close to all applicants once the deadline (midday 31 May 2024) has passed.

There is no appeal process and requests to submit late applications will not be considered.

Assessment process

Applications will be accepted from students who meet the eligibility criteria and have applied to study a full-time postgraduate Master's programme.

Information provided in the application will be used to determine which applicants display the most demonstrable need.

Priority will be given to applicants who fulfil the most widening participation criteria and are ranked most highly by the selection panel's scoring mechanism.

Timetable

After the application closing date, you will be told whether your scholarship application was successful on the week commencing 17 June 2024.

Successful applicants

The University will make offers of a scholarship to successful candidates. Full details of the scheme being offered, including the terms and conditions, will be made available in the award notification.

All scholarship recipients must provide evidence of their 2:1 or first-class honours undergraduate degree and must meet all the terms and conditions of their academic offer.

Awardees must reply by email to the scholarship offer notification and confirm their acceptance of the award, and the relevant terms and conditions, by the date specified in the award letter.

Awardees who do not reply within two weeks will have their scholarship offer rescinded and the scholarship will be offered to one of the applicants on the scholarship reserve list.

Reserve applicants

To ensure that all available funding is distributed, the University will select a number of students to be on a reserve list. Such applicants will be notified accordingly, after each selection round.

Students on the reserve list may be contacted at a later date to be informed that they have been offered an award should funding become available.

Being placed on the reserve list is not a guarantee of an award.

Other criteria

To receive a payment, you must be fully registered (in-person) at the University and engaged with your studies.