SGPE - Widening Participation Scholarship

We are offering one scholarship which includes full Tuition fees for one of our MSc programmes for entry in 2024-2025 and a contribution towards cost of living. This scholarship is available for students who are UK nationals living in Scotland, and who meet at least one of our widening participation criteria.

Only holders of a conditional or unconditional offer to join one of the SGPE MSc programmes are eligible to apply for this scholarship. (For applications to SGPE MSc programmes, please see here).

You must also meet the following eligibility criteria:

• you are a UK national.
• you have been living in Scotland for at least 5 years.

In addition, you must meet at least one of the following eligibility criteria:

• You were/are in receipt of a Maintenance Grant as an undergraduate (if you started your undergraduate course after August 2016 you will need to provide evidence from the Student Loans Company to confirm your household income was assessed as £40,000 or less).
• You were/are in receipt of a Young Students' Bursary, an Independent Students' Bursary, or a Care Experienced Students' Bursary as an undergraduate—as assessed by Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS).
• During the last year of pre-university education, you lived in an area within the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation lowest 40% (SIMD40) or an area which has educations or skills domain decile 2 (lowest 20%). (To check your eligibility for the postcode criterion above, use the postcode lookup tool. We will use the home address where you lived during your last year of school or college).
• You have been an unpaid carer during pre-university or university education. The definition of an unpaid carer follows that provided by The Carers Trust UK, a charity which works with individuals who have unpaid caring responsibilities. “A carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem, or an addiction cannot cope without their support.” We accept the following evidence of unpaid carer status: a Health Care Professional confirming caring responsibilities, Adult Carer Support Plans, Young Carer Statement, or Carers Card from a Carers Centre.
• You are care-experienced (see Support for Students with Care Experience). We define care experience as any time spent in care at any stage of your life.

Care may have been provided in one of many different settings, such as if you were:

• in residential care.
• in foster care.
• in kinship care.
• looked after at home with a supervision requirement.

This includes adopted children who were previously looked after. There is no age restriction on our definition of care experienced.  

Please note, evidence of any care experience is required to support your application.

You will not be eligible for this scholarship if:

• You are fully sponsored by your employer.
• You are already in receipt of a full scholarship.
• You already hold a Master’s degree or PhD qualification.

If your offer is declined at any point during the admissions process, you will no longer be eligible for this scholarship.

If you are successful in being awarded a scholarship, but subsequently decline your offer of admission to the MSc, the scholarship will be withdrawn and awarded to another applicant. An award will be withdrawn if you fail to meet the conditions set by the University.

You can only apply for the scholarship once you have received an offer (conditional or unconditional) to join one of the SGPE programmes and have either firmly accepted the offer or be intending to do so (see SGPE). The scholarship selection panel can only consider your application if you hold an active offer throughout your scholarship application process. If your offer is declined at any point during the admissions process you will no longer be eligible for this scholarship. For applications to SGPE MSc programmes, see here​​​​.

If you are successful in being awarded a scholarship, but subsequently decline your offer of admission to the MSc, the scholarship will be withdrawn. An award will be withdrawn if you fail to meet the conditions set by the University.

The deadline for applications for this scholarship has now passed.

The outcome will be made known by the 1st of August 2024. 

Please contact the Postgraduate office at: SGPE@ed.ac.uk