Lewisham Fee Waiver recipients

Goldsmiths, University of London has launched a new bursary and awards scheme that will target disadvantaged students and “promising academic talent.”

10 Lewisham students who come from low-income families or demonstrate academic potential will receive free places covering their entire tuition fees worth £27,000 each.

A spokesperson for Goldsmiths told EastLondonLines: “We want to open the university for everyone, especially students who come from non-traditional backgrounds.

“Students over 25, students with disabilities are just a few of the categories that will benefit from the bursaries.”

An additional 10 students from local boroughs will receive a partial grant worth £13,500, that will cover 50% of the tuition fees of their entire undergraduate degree. The boroughs include: Lambeth, Southwark, Greenwich, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Croydon.

In the 2012-13 academic year, Goldsmiths invested 30% of the fee income from all fees above £6,000 on measures to encourage wider access to the university in a programme called Lewisham Fee Waiver. 10 students benefited from the scheme.

Victoria Summers, a Goldsmiths student who received the award said: “I was going to come to university anyway but getting the Lewisham Fee Waiver has made a massive difference to my approach to it.

To know that there’s somebody who has belief in what I can achieve is really spurring me on at this quite ambitious time in my life. It has made all the difference.”

Maimunatu Sillah, who also benefited from bursary scheme added: “Before coming I thought Goldsmiths was really posh and out of my league. It was always a university that I thought I would never be accepted into so it was a shock when I my application was successful. It broke down all my stereotypical thoughts about the place.”

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