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Funding to widen participation - University of Westminster

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Funding to widen participation - University of Westminster

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We introduced the Global Experience Bursary as a flexible funding model to help students to study, work or volunteer abroad over the summer at a time that suited them and on placements that interested them. All students can apply for up to £500 with those that meet our widening participation criteria able to apply for more. The funding is essential for students to take part but also the fact that it supports flexible durations helps make it more accessible.

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The Global Experience Bursary is in place to ensure that all students, regardless of their programme of study or their personal situation, can receive support to help them achieve an international experience.

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DMU Global - improving access to international opportunities

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DMU Global - improving access to international opportunities

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At DMU, we have always offered funding for shorter term mobility opportunities with the aim of widening access and supporting students from underrepresented backgrounds. We also have a specific WP fund which students can apply for and access and an additional £200 for overseas experiences. For 2023/24 we have committed to offering 100 of these bursaries, representing around 10-15% of all trip participants. We also work with recipients to create case studies and videos with the hope of inspiring other students, and encouraging them to apply regardless of their background. You can read the stories and watch some videos via the link above.

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Widening Participation Funding – DMU Global

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De Montfort University (DMU) has a long record in supporting the widening participation agenda and has significant experience in meeting the needs of underrepresented groups both pre-application and post entry. We believe that every student should also have the chance to take part in international opportunities and we would like to support high-achieving students from underrepresented groups to make the best of their time at DMU.

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At Warwick we are looking to kick start delivering faculty led programmes for WP students. It is about providing an accessible supported international opportunity for WP students to kick start their international journey whilst with us at Warwick. It is also about engaging with departmental colleagues passionate about international and raising the profile of this model.

The university is fully funding 10 WP students from the Faculty of Arts in Venice this Easter. We already have interest from colleagues in other faculties so hopefully this will be the start of growing this model of mobility at Warwick.

More info here:

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An exclusive fully funded opportunity for 10 first year widening participation students from the Faculty of Arts to take part in an exciting pilot programme in Venice, Italy during Easter vacation 2024.

This will be an interdisciplinary programme led by academics from the Faculty of Arts to consider Resilience in Venice - past, present and future.

Information session: An information session took place on Wednesday 29 November 2023. The presentation is saved hereLink opens in a new window .
PROGRAMME TOPIC: Resilience in Venice - past, present and future
The programme will be led by Dr Marta Guerriero, Associate Professor from the Global Sustainable Development Department.

It will focus on how Venice has evolved over time and how it will need to continue to evolve and display resilience to thrive as a city. You will explore the city, engage with guest speakers and undertake visits to consider the historical, socio-political, environmental and economic factors which have made Venice what it is today.

You will consider a number of questions to understand how the city of Venice has survived for 1,600 years from its foundation. How did the city respond to threats of invasion? How did the city's economy adapt to modern times? In what ways have its residents transformed the lagoon? How has the impact of pollution from a growing chemical industry led to the regeneration of the port area? And how is the city responding to the challenges of rising sea levels? What does this all mean for the future of the city and what other changes could or should be on the horizon?
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Applicants must be:

First year student in the Faculty of Arts

In receipt of the Warwick Undergraduate Bursary or on the Warwick Scholars programme. We are unable to accept applications from Global Excellence Scholarship holders for this programme.

Available for the entire programme between Sunday 17 March - Friday 22 March 2024

Have an up to date passport which is valid until at least October 2024. If you do not have this then an application for a passport will be required asap.

Required to attend all programme sessions and participate fully in all activities and tasks

WHY SHOULD I APPLY TO TAKE PART?

This is a pilot programme which means this is the first programme of its type at Warwick.

You have the opportunity to shape the content of the teaching as well as what speakers and visits are included in future faculty-led programmes to Venice for Faculty of Arts students.

We need your feedback and want to learn from your experience to make a case for future funding so that this sort of activity is possible for students in the future.

You will receive Warwick Award points and recognition of having taken part in a Short Term Mobility activity on your university transcript.

This is a great taster of an international experience during your time at university. If you enjoy it, you might want to apply to take part in a summer school or volunteering programme overseas during summer vacation or even a year abroad in your third year.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Dates: Sunday 17 March - Friday 22 March 2024

Where: Warwick's Venice PalazzoLink opens in a new window

What costs are included: Flights, accommodation, programme excursion costs and daily subsistence allowance of £50 per day. Students will travel together on the same flights booked from Birmingham to Venice (return).

Accommodation: Camplus Student Accommodation, Venice (located 25 min walk from the Warwick PalazzoLink opens in a new window ). Students will share a twin room with two Warwick students sharing.

Language requirements: There are no language requirements for this programme. All teaching will be in English and lead Warwick staff members is Italian so can assist with any language related queries in country.

Health insurance: Please apply for a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC)Link opens in a new window if you do not already have one as this can provide reduced cost of healthcare if required whilst in Italy.

Passport: Please ensure you have an up to date passport which is valid until at least October 2024. If you do not have this then an application for a passport will be required asap. This is for you to organise.

If you are not a UK passport holder, please check whether you require a visa to travel to Venice for this trip. If so you are responsible for organising this, but we may be able to cover the cost for you. Please email maria.fox@warwick.ac.uk if this situation applies to you.
How to Apply:
1) Complete a short Application Form. APPLICATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED.

Within the application form:

- Explain why you are interested in taking part in the programme

- Confirm you are available for the dates of the programme (17 March - 22 March 2024)

- Confirm you have an up to date passport which is valid until at least October 2024

- Name a member of Warwick staff who can be contacted for a reference to support your application

2) You will be informed if you have been accepted on to the programme by Monday 22 January 2024.

3) Confirm that you accept your offered place and provide passport information so that we can book flights by Friday 26 January 2024.

4) Attend a social event on campus on Wednesday 31 January 2024 to meet the programme leads and other students taking part in the programme.

5) Attend pre-departure meeting with your fellow attendees and programme leads to prepare for the programme on Wednesday 28 February 2024 (12:00-13:30).

- We will help with information about the programme timetable, suggested items to be packed, practical guidance on flight times etc.

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faculty of arts easter programme - venice

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Faculty of Arts Easter Programme - Venice

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Faculty of Arts Easter Programme - Venice

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Academic- led programmes - having academics promote pedagogical benefits within their community - University of Bristol

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Academic- led programmes - having academics promote pedagogical benefits within their community - University of Bristol

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We ran a faculty led programme with our Liberal Arts programme - taking 20 students to Rome and Naples for a week led by an academic. Dr Amy King wrote a blog for Bristol’s teaching institute to spread the word amongst the academic community about the benefits to learning and teaching.

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Bristol Institute for Learning and Teaching Blog

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What does it mean to experience the aesthetic? How is that experience accumulated? How does it feel? And how does knowledge of what came before help us to understand a particular aesthetic? These are some of the questions driving the second-year Liberal Arts unit ' Experiencing the Aesthetic ', which introduces students to concepts like beauty and ugliness, semiotics, and phenomenological modes of analysis through topics like immersive theatre, early modernism and the senses, and the architecture of the far right. Some Liberal Arts students on the unit in 2022 and 2023 had the chance to consider these questions outside the classroom, in a nation celebrated for its aesthetic heritage.

Led by Dr Amy King, Lecturer in Modern European History (and an Italianist!), Dr Karen Skinazi, Associate Professor in Literature and Culture, and Lucy Millington, Head of Outbound Mobility, 'Touring the Aesthetic: Liberal Arts in Italy' ran in June 2022 and 2023, with three nights in Rome and three more in Naples.

Thanks to Santander funding, all students (20 in 2022, 16 in '23) were given bursaries of £250 (with £450 available for all Widening Participation students). The funding also covered accommodation, travel between Rome and Naples, and all activities, which included:

Tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel

Walking tour of Fascist architecture led by Dr King

A student-led "festival of research" at the Museum of the School and Education, Roma Tre University (held at the British School at Rome in 2022)

Tour of Cinecittà film studios (last year, students enjoyed a trip to the Borghese Gallery)

Guided tour of Pompeii

Pasta-making class in Naples

Literary salon to discuss Elena Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend (in 2022, students took a walking tour of Ferrante's Naples)

Students enjoyed a guided tour of Pompeii.

A feedback form inviting students to reflect on the trip was circulated after our return to Bristol and underlined the value of this wonderful opportunity for students' personal and academic development. The value of the trip can be broken down into three main categories:

New friendships and social bonds. The interdisciplinary Liberal Arts degree allows students to take units from across the faculty, alongside core units and units in their pathway. While this offers exceptional opportunities for intellectual autonomy, it presents fewer chances for students to meet one another. One participant, whose first year had been seriously impacted by Covid, said: "I made a lot of new friends on the programme, having met nobody before."

Indeed, cohort-building was a primary motivation for the trip, and at the heart of the application put to Santander. It was heartening to see students reflect on the social value of this experience:

"I thought it was a great opportunity to learn beyond the books and spend time with people who share similar interests academically and personally."

"It was wonderful to have casual academically related discussions and I believe this will have contributed to the breadth of my general Arts knowledge."

Inspiring future study. Students drew on knowledge gained from 'Experiencing the Aesthetic' to deliver a 5- to 10-minute talk on any element of the Italian aesthetic, which they presented at a 'festival of research'. Topics included the Neapolitan street artist Jorit, women's hair in classical statues, architecture and social status in Pompeii, and violence in films about Italian terrorism.

The feedback form asked students whether the trip was likely to impact their future study choices. For some students, the trip motivated them to learn Italian - "I have decided to study beginner's Italian on my Year Abroad next year" -, while three others felt inspired to consider postgraduate study after visiting an international research institute: "Being in academia outside of Bristol has opened my horizon to new ideas and sources of interest." But the most striking impact was felt in the subject of dissertations, a capstone Liberal Arts unit that requires students to produce a 10,000-word piece of original interdisciplinary research. In 2022, 50% of second-year students said the trip was likely to impact the subject of their dissertation. One student wrote her whole dissertation on the Palazzo della Civiltà, which we visited on the trip (designed and built under Mussolini, it is now the HQ of global fashion house Fendi!).

Intellectual and social confidence. While study abroad is an intrinsic part of the master's level Liberal Arts programme, several students in this cohort had seen opportunities to go abroad curtailed by Covid. The experience of international travel, cultural exchange, and insight into Rome's academic environments saw them grow in intellectual and social confidence:

"This trip to Italy has been the highlight of my studies at Bristol University. It has been amazing to meet lecturers and students from across the years and I feel much more confident going into my final years at Bristol."

Beyond the more formal moments of knowledge exchange, several students also commented on the value of academic conversations with staff in a casual environment or rich interdisciplinary discussions between peers:

"[The main benefit of the trip was] feeling confident and included enough to have academic conversations in a social setting, learning from others about their academic interests and musings."

"It has made me more confident as a student. I had no understanding of whether I was coping well/poorly with university but after meeting so many new people on the course, I realise that we have all been dealing with similar issues outside of studies. This has been really comforting and has made me feel more positive about my overall university experience. Most importantly, I have finally met people who I believe I'll stay in contact with for a very long time!"

This unit asks 'what does it mean to experience the aesehtetic?' Our fieldtrip has made the value of that experience clear. The knowledge students accumulated during the trip has informed future study choices and direction, enriched interdisciplinary connections, and inspired intellectual confidence. Although the Santander funding has now come to an end, its value will have a long afterlife.

Karen, Amy and Lucy would like to thank Santander for their generous funding, and the Liberal Arts students who made this such a wonderful trip!

Further resources: Experiencing the Aesthetic: An Introduction to the Module with Peter Peasey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-a5Z3FX9kE

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Growing Confidence, Building Bonds and Finding Inspiration: Liberal Arts in Italy

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What does it mean to experience the aesthetic? How is that experience accumulated? How does it feel? And how does knowledge of what came before help us to understand a particular aesthetic? These are some of the questions driving the second-year Liberal Arts unit 'Experiencing the Aesthetic', which introduces students to concepts like beauty and...