UWE Bristol Employability Bursary

The UWE Bristol Employability Bursary offers up to £1,000 non-repayable financial support to UK home undergraduate students from low-income households to help you manage costs of participating in an eligible employability activity.

To be eligible for this bursary in 2026/27 academic year you must:

• be fully registered as an undergraduate UK home student at UWE Bristol
• qualify for support with tuition fees and living costs support from Student Finance. This means you must have a Student Finance assessment, even if you are not taking out loans
• have a household income of £30,000 per year or below, as assessed by Student Finance and have made this information available to UWE Bristol
• have a confirmed place on an eligible activity, listed below.

If you aren’t eligible, we recommend exploring different funds available during study at UWE Bristol.

The bursary offers support to eligible students participating in the following activities.

Bursaries of £500

• African social engagement projects:
  • Daigo, The Gambia
  • New Dawn, Uganda
  • Three2Six, South Africa
  • Zoma, Ethiopia
• Professional volunteering (minimum 30 hours) 
• Short placements (modules requiring a minimum of 30 hours) - £500
• International opportunities within the School of Health and Social Wellbeing (for more information, please contact your programme or module leader):
  • Crossing Borders opt-in module
  • Croatia placement experience

Bursaries of £1,000 

• CCUSA – USA and Canada Summer Camp opportunities
• Enterprise Summer Scholarships
• New Wave Agency (School of Art) - £500 or £1,000
• Project Zulu
• Sandwich placements (including self-employed placements)
• Short placements (modules requiring a minimum of 70 hours)
• Study Abroad (student exchange)
• The Mighty Roar
  • Greece – sea turtle and marine conservation
  • Sri Lanka – teaching, mental health and sea turtle conservation only
  • Vietnam – teaching only
  • Thailand – teaching and wildlife rescue only.
• Think Pacific Bali programmes
• Think Pacific Fiji Volunteering programmes
• UWE Bristol internships
• UWE Bristol International Summer Camp
• International opportunities within the  School of Health and Social Wellbeing (for more information, please contact your programme or module leader):
  • Worldwide Nursing (electives) opt-in module
  • Midwifery elective placements
• International opportunities within the School of Applied Science (for more information contact your programme or module leader):
  • Expedition to a Biodiversity Hotspot placement in Greece, Egypt or Madagascar.

The bursary is intended to support to students to who would not otherwise have access to the financial assistance needed to undertake an employability activity. The bursary is therefore not available to support students to undertake integrated professional placements (healthcare, education, social work) as those activities may already benefit from other funding arrangements associated with the course. However, students from all programmes, including those undertaking integrated professional placements, may apply for bursary funding for other eligible activities, provided students meet the funding eligibility criteria.

Consideration of funding for other non-integrated short placements requires that the placements are new roles that have been formally approved and verified in advance with host organisations. Bursary amounts will be based on the module minimum requirement.

You must secure a place on an eligible activity before you apply for the Employability Bursary. 

Once you have confirmed your place on an eligible activity, the UWE Bristol team managing your activity will share a link for you to apply for the bursary.

Applications will be accepted until all bursary funding has been allocated or the scheme year ends, whichever occurs first. Where funding remains available, applications must be submitted by 17:00 on Wednesday 21 July 2027.

When we have received your application, it will go through a two-step eligibility check:

1. Eligible activity check
   The UWE Bristol team managing your activity will check that you are participating in an eligible activity.
2. Financial eligibility check
   UWE Bristol Student Money Service will check you are a registered UK undergraduate student and that your household income (HHI) is below £30,000 on UK Student Finance. You must have completed a HHI assessment with Student Finance and consented to sharing this information with UWE Bristol.

You will receive emails to update you progress and outcome of your application.

If your application is successful, you’ll receive the payment within 15 working days of the date stated in your confirmation email.

Payments are made via the Student Loan Company to the account they have on record, not directly from UWE Bristol.

You can receive a maximum of £1,000 each academic year, which runs from 1 September to 31 July.

If you take part in an activity before 31 July, you can apply for funding again the following academic year.

If a single activity spans two academic years, it will only qualify for one bursary payment.