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Student impact

Your support for scholarships helps to bring the brightest minds to Bath.

Golden achievements

Our first full cohort of Gold Scholars have now graduated – that’s 48 young people with a brighter future, thanks to you. The positive effects of Gold cannot be underestimated, as recognised by our success in the Highest Impact University Initiative category at the 2021 upReach Student Mobility Awards.

A Gold Scholarship isn’t just financial help, but a full package of support including skills workshops, mentoring and volunteering opportunities. It’s a place to belong at Bath. Thank you for making it possible.

Outstanding efforts

Empowering scholars to achieve their best.

Gracie Stavers (left) holding her upReach Student Mobility Award, along with staff member Liz Simmons (right).

“Without this support I would have needed to get a job alongside my studies, and because I have fibromyalgia and ME it would have been too exhausting and hard,” says second-year Gibbons Gold Scholar Gracie Stavers, who won the Outstanding Achievement Award at the upReach Student Mobility Awards, as well as the Edinburgh Women in Space Conference essay competition – which was open to both undergraduates and postgraduates.

“I’m in such a better place than I otherwise would have been. I have so much to put on my CV as I start to look for placements, which is something I was worried about.”

Full circle

Graduating and giving back.

Rachel Stones stood in front of a glass door in a building foyer on campus.

Coming from a single-parent family, Rachel Stones (MPharm Pharmacy 2021) thought university wouldn’t be financially feasible. A Gold Scholarship changed that. She thrived here at Bath and was awarded the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Student of the Year. Now Rachel’s working as a hospital pharmacist and is hoping to specialise in intensive care.

She has also volunteered as a Gold Mentor:

“It’s amazing that alumni, Christine and Mike Gibbons, donated to fund my scholarship; I wouldn’t have been here without it. Their incredible generosity means so much.”

How Gold Scholarships are funded

We welcome 50 new Gold Scholars per year.

  • Individual donors - 33
  • Alumni Fund donations - 10
  • Corporate partners - 4
  • Legacy gifts - 3

Gifts from a range of sources make the Gold Scholarship Programme possible.

Global good

In November 2020, Bath was formally recognised as a University of Sanctuary by charity City of Sanctuary. The award celebrates our efforts as an institution to welcome refugees and asylum seekers, including through our research, pastoral support and scholarships. During the 2020/21 academic year, we supported 23 students with refugee or asylum seeker status.

A young woman walking along a path in front of some grass and trees.

Seeking sanctuary

“As a Sanctuary Scholar, I am privileged to have the platform to be able to share my experiences and knowledge about my home country of Afghanistan, both good and bad – the rich history, culture and geography, as well as war, conflict and 40 years of invincible misery. But, more than a speaker, I am also delighted to be a listener.

“Leaving everything behind and starting from scratch as an asylum seeker in another country is difficult. Life’s companions during this stage were hopelessness, uncertainty and a lot of frustration. When I obtained my scholarship, these were replaced with hope, certainty and an immense amount of positivity.”

– Habib Wardak (MA International Relations 2022), Marie Morley Sanctuary Scholar

Habib Wardak standing in front of a backdrop of grass and trees on campus.

Sharing knowledge

“Growing up in Sub-Saharan Africa, experiences of unreliable water supplies, improper waste disposal systems and energy inconsistencies sparked my desire for sustainability. The greatest tragedy is when great minds are not harnessed due to poverty, and removing me from this cycle is something I won’t take for granted.

“The knowledge I gain from my time at Bath will help in creating novel systems for water supply, waste conversion and developing air purification technology from cheap materials. Through your donations, my dream to tackle these challenges is feasible.”

– Samuel Ashu Abey (MSc Environmental Engineering 2022), Commonwealth Scholar

Samuel Ashu Abey stood on the Parade with the Library building behind him.

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