CU London now offering £95,000 funding for students from poor backgrounds
Monday 21 May 2018
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CU London is set to award £95,000 in scholarships and bursaries towards opening up higher education to more people.
From contributing directly towards tuition fees to making donations to schools or colleges who are helping people fulfil their potential, CU London is launching six initiatives this summer.
The support is part of a commitment to help Barking and Dagenham residents overcome social or economic barriers in a bid to access higher education, and assisting in making sure people with ambition don’t miss out on attending an award-winning university.
One initiative, the CU London Open Bursary Fund, will see public applications and nominations opened for funding to subsidise course fees for those not attending a school or College but with the entry qualifications to do so.
The CU London Club initiative will target students in Year 12 and 13 with potential to go to university but who might not be considering doing so, with several thousand pounds set aside to help participating schools or colleges to offer additional tutoring in for example maths and English.
A £10,000 donation will also be made to the Colin Pond Trust Fund, named after former Barking and Dagenham councillor Colin Pond, which will top up the existing Council run scheme, which provides much needed extra financial help across the Borough’s schools.
We are committed to helping those in our community who have so much potential but are facing barriers accessing higher education.
It is crucial that we cast our net wide with these initiatives, so we can help as many people as possible in as many ways we can.
We are building great links with colleges, schools and communities in Barking and Dagenham all of the time and we hope this will only strengthen our commitment to playing our part in the shared vision of access for all to the best opportunities around.
Andy Ginn, Associate Pro Vice Chancellor at CU London
CU London has not only brought in high quality, low-cost education which a number of our residents are already a part of, it is also providing jobs for local people and a focus for members of the community.
This is a welcome announcement and further example of the role CU London is playing in helping to fulfil the aspirations of our residents, both young and old.
Councillor Darren Rodwell, Leader Elect of Barking and Dagenham Council
Another initiative is the CU London Teaching awards, where participating schools or colleges nominate a teacher or teaching team to be rewarded for best practice in closing the achievement gap, with £20,000 set aside for donations towards resources to show our appreciation of teachers’ work, and to reward and reinforce their initiatives.
The CU London Student Awards will follow a similar path but for students, while £9,000 will be put aside for supervised IT sessions for pupils to access software programmes that open up the opportunities across all universities to be brought in at schools in the area.
CU London is part of the Coventry University Group which was ranked in the top 12 of UK universities in The Guardian University Guide 2018 and achieved Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework 2017.
It has put considerable time and effort into restoring and revitalising the historic Grade II listed former Dagenham Civic Centre, which is now transformed into a top-quality university learning environment thanks to a £4.5 million investment.
Based upon a high-value, career-focused model of higher education, CU London offers lower fees and more flexible and accessible learning options than other universities, which fit around student’s lives.
A broad range of courses are on offer at the campus including: law; accounting; business; health and social care; combined engineering; cyber security; policing; primary education; and more.
CU London is hosting its next Open Day for potential students on Saturday, June 9th from 10am to 2pm
