The Brunel University London Bursary (BULB) is a cash award available to full-time Home fee paying students beginning Undergraduate courses at Brunel University London and the Brunel Pathways College (BPC) in September and aims to support students from low income households who are either mature or from an area of deprivation, as identified by the index of multiple deprivation (further details can be found below).
Closed for applications
Undergraduate
£1,000- £3,000
No application required - consent to share of your household income information must be given via your Student Loan Company application.
No application required - consent to share of your household income information must be given via your Student Loan Company application.
Award details
Value:
£1,000 in Foundation Year
£1,000 in Year 1
£2,000 in Year 2
£3,000 in Year 3 of a full time course (or Year 4 of an undergraduate sandwich course)
£1,000 in Year 4 of a full time integrated Master programme (or Year 5 of a sandwich Integrated Masters programme)
The bursary is not payable in the placement year.
The Bursary will be paid once for each eligible level of study, subject to normal progression criteria having been met (additional payments will not be made during a repeating year, regardless of the reason for repetition).
How many: 308 bursaries are available. 8 bursaries are funded by alumni donations, the remaining bursaries will be funded by the University.
Application process: There is no separate application, all students will be considered for the bursary automatically based on the information supplied in their course application. Awards will be made by the Allocation Panel in early October, following publication of the UK examination results.
We are not able to make any awards after the Panel meet in early October.
Bursary holders may be requested to represent Brunel at various promotional activities throughout their time at the University. Participation is not mandatory and bursary holders may be contacted with invitations to participate in activities such as surveys, focus groups and interviews, in order to evaluate the University’s financial support package. Bursary holders will be contacted as and when participation is required. If a student chooses not to participate, their bursary award will not be affected.
Data pertaining to bursary holders such as: progression rates, degree attainment, degree completion, and graduate outcomes may also be analysed in order to understand the effectiveness of bursaries and scholarships. This data may also be linked to other data already held by the University for the purpose of better understanding the impact of bursaries and scholarships on under-represented groups. To learn more about how the University uses data to support its commitment to delivering positive outcomes to students from under-represented groups please visit our webpage.
Eligibility
The bursary will be awarded to those applicants who meet all the following eligibility criteria:
- Must hold an offer of a place on a full time Undergraduate course (including placement routes and undergraduate integrated Masters programmes) starting in September. This includes offers made through UCAS Clearing and Adjustment.
- Offer must be ‘Unconditional Firm’ (UF) by the date the Scholarship Allocation Panel make their awards in early October (i.e. applicant must have met all offer conditions and firmly accepted the place).
- Must commence the course in the upcoming academic year (applicants for deferred entry will be considered for a bursary in the year they start their course and not in the year of their course application).
- Must be classed as a Home fee paying student based on the UK government regulations. Applicants who are unsure of their fee status should note Brunel uses the information they have provided in their application form to assess fee status against regulations set by the UK government. For information on these regulations please visit the independent organisation UKCISA’s website.
- Must be ordinarily resident in the UK (includes those living in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland).
- Must have consented to the sharing of household income submitted to the Student Loans Company (SLC). Applicants should note that without consenting to share their information Brunel cannot access any information relating to Household Income. This will result in the applicant not being considered for this award.
- Must come from a low income household (£25,000 pa or less, as defined in the ‘Eligibility Definitions’ below). Please note clearing applicants must ensure that they inform the Student Loans Company (SLC) at the earliest opportunity that they are attending Brunel. This will then ensure that the SLC can provide relevant evidence that the applicant meets this condition by 16 September (SLC applicant must be approved no later than this date). Failure to do this or if the applicants SLC assessment and application have not been approved by the 16 September will result in the applicant not being considered for this award.
AND must meet at least one of the following under-represented criteria (as defined in the 'Eligibility Definitions' below):
- Must be a resident in an area of deprivation, as defined by the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2019 Quintiles 1 and 2.
- Be a mature applicant, aged 21 or over by the course start date.
Bursaries will be awarded to those who meet the eligibility criteria at the time of allocation.
Where the number of applicants who meet the criteria exceeds the number of bursaries available, the number of points scored from the under-represented criteria will be taken into consideration (as detailed in Section 3 below).
Those not eligible for this Bursary
- Applicants classed as Overseas or Channel Islands/Isle of Man for fees purposes (based on the UK government regulations), or those with an unresolved fee status. For 2023/24 entry, European fee payers who are not eligible for home fees under the UK government regulations will not be eligible.
- Applicants entering a course at FHEQ Level 5 (Year 2) or FHEQ Level 6 (Year 3) will not be considered for any scholarship or bursary.
- Applicants entering a course with the Brunel Language Centre (BLC).
- Applicants who will not commence their course in the upcoming academic year - applicants holding offers for deferred entry will be considered for a bursary in the year they start their course and not in the year of their course application.
b. Eligibility Definitions
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Index of multiple deprivation (IMD) Quintiles 1 & 2
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“The Index of Multiple Deprivation is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas (or neighbourhoods) in England. The Index of Multiple Deprivation ranks every small area in England from 1 (most deprived area) to 32,844 (least deprived area)”
The government ranks postcodes by deciles, with 1 being the most deprived and 10 being the least deprived. This has been converted to quintiles for use in Higher Education where 1 is the most deprived and 5 the least. IMD will differ depending on country of residence, covering students in England, Wales and Scotland.
Department for Communities and Local Government. More information regarding English IMD can be found here.
Welsh IMD is defined as below:
Quintile Rank
1 1 to 191
2 192 to 382
3 383 to 573
4 574 to 955
5 956 to 1909
More information regarding Welsh IMD can be found here
Scottish IMD:
More information regarding Scottish IMD can be found here
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Low Income
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Those with an annual residual household income of £25,000 or less. [Residual income is the household income before tax and after any pension contributions or allowances for dependent children.] For full time students, a full financial assessment must have been carried out by the SLC and agreement must have been given by the student and their sponsor(s) to share this data. This assessment must have been completed by the 16 September 202 3and it is the responsibility of the student to ensure this has been completed by the SLC. Failure to do this will result in the applicant not being considered for the award.
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Mature
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Those who are 21 years or older by the course start date.
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Student Loans Company (SLC)
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The Student Loans Company is a UK public sector organisation providing loans and grants to students and comprises of Student Finance England/Wales/Northern Ireland and the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.
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c. Proof of Eligibility
- To evidence ‘Low Income’, full time students must have provided the SLC with sufficient information to enable a full financial assessment to have been carried out before 16 September 2023, and the student and sponsor(s) have provided their consent to share this data. Brunel will use the result of the assessment to confirm ‘Low Income’ eligibility. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the SLC have fully carried out the income assessment by 16 September 2023 in order for them to be considered by the Scholarship Allocation Panel in early October.
- To evidence 'Quintiles 1 & 2 of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)' data will be collected from the UCAS/UTT/Brunel application forms.
- To evidence Mature, age data will be collected from the UCAS/UTT/Brunel application forms.
Allocation
3.1 Eligibility criteria are reviewed annually.
3.2 Points weighting given to each of the under-represented criteria are as follows:
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Household income of £5,000 or below
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26
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Household income of £5,001 - £10,000
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24
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Household income of £10,001 - £15,000
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22
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Household income of £15,001 - £20,000
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20
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Household income of £20,001 - £25,000
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18
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Mature
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12
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IMD Q1
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8
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IMD Q2
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4
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3.3 Applicants are considered for bursaries using the information provided at the time of their application only and cannot be reconsidered should their circumstances change during the course of their studies. Bursaries cannot be backdated.
3.4 Only one scholarship/bursary can be paid to any one student in any one year with the exception of the Care Leaver Bursary and the Life Long Learning Bursary.
3.5 If an applicant is eligible for more than one scholarship/bursary, they will be awarded the one which will be the most financially beneficial across the full course duration.
3.6 Where the number of applicants who meet the criteria exceeds the number of bursaries available, the number of points scored from the under-represented criteria met will be taken into consideration (as detailed in these terms and conditions).
3.7 Awards will be made by the Scholarship Allocation Panel in early October and successful applicants will be informed by email shortly thereafter.
3.8 Bursaries are awarded for the current academic year only and cannot be deferred. Applicants who choose to defer their studies will forfeit any awards they have been made but will be considered anew in the year they will begin their studies.
3.9 The decision of the Scholarship Allocation Panel is final. Any appeals in respect of the allocation process should be referred to the admissions policy. An appeal will only be considered in line with procedural irregularities, where an applicant believes that the University has not followed the procedures stated within the relevant Scholarship or Bursary Terms and Conditions and there is reasonable doubt as to whether the outcome might have been different had the error not occurred.
Payment
The Bursary will be paid in three instalments in each year of a full time course and will not be paid during the placement year of a sandwich course.
Successfully awarded students will be asked to supply relevant UK bank account details to support receipt of the cash payments by no later than the first day of Term 1.
4.1 Payment dates
For cash bursary awards, payment will be made as follows:
Payment 1- 08 December 2023
Payment 2 - 01 March 2024
Payment 3- 14 June 2024
4.2 Conditions of Payment:
- Payments will only be made providing the student is enrolled at the University on an undergraduate degree programme of study at the time of the payment.
- Payment in subsequent years will only be made providing the student progresses to the next level of study [bursary payments will not be made during a repeating year until the student has satisfactorily progressed to the next level].
N.B. Payments will be made directly to a UK bank account and therefore students are required to supply accurate bank account details via their eVision account within the requested time. Failure to provide current valid UK Bank account details will result in delayed payment.
Where a bursary award spans more than one year, students will be written to in September to confirm ongoing eligibility to receive their bursary award.
Withdrawal of a scholarship
5.1 Misleading information: The University reserves the right to withdraw a bursary from anyone who is found to have misled the University about any aspect of their eligibility and to seek repayment of any monies already paid by appropriate means.
5.2 Mode of Attendance Change: If a student changes to a different mode of study, their eligibility for a bursary will be reviewed. The bursary will be withdrawn if the change is from full time to part time.
5.3 Changing course and starting again at FHEQ Level 4 (Year 1): Students who commence their studies and subsequently make an alteration that involves starting again at Level 4 will not be eligible for a new award against the new course. The existing bursary award will be placed on hold and reinstated once the student commences Level 5, subject to meeting the annual bursary progression criteria outlined in Section 4. If a student changes course but remains at the same level of study, this will not have an impact on the award.
5.4 Abeyance/Temporary Withdrawal: A student who takes a period of temporary withdrawal (abeyance) and who is in receipt of a bursary award would cease to receive bursary payments whilst temporarily withdrawn. Bursary payments made prior to temporarily withdrawing will not generally be requested to be repaid and remaining payments will generally be paid once the student returns to complete that level of study.
5.5 Suspension of Study: Should a student be suspended for any reason, bursary payments will be withdrawn and consideration of reinstatement will be dependent on the disciplinary outcome.
5.6 Repeat/Extended Study: Periods of temporary withdrawal that result in repeat or extended periods of study are not supported by additional bursary payments. Bursary entitlement is for the maximum duration of each award and entitlement is not extended if overall course duration alters.
5.7 Withdrawal from Study: A student who withdraws from their programme prior to completion and who is in receipt of a bursary award will not normally be requested to repay bursary payments made up to the point of withdrawal. However, entitlement to all future bursary payments cease immediately when a student withdraws from Brunel University London.
Any queries relating to these terms and conditions should be addressed to the Admissions Office by emailing: scholarships@brunel.ac.uk
Updated 22 March 2023