Widening Participation

Support for Care-experienced Students

If you are leaving care, or have previously spent time in care, and are thinking of applying to the University of Glasgow, there is a range of support and provision that we can offer. This could include free participation in one of our pre-entry programmes, a guaranteed adjusted offer of entry, year-round accommodation, and additional Bursary support.

Dedicated, named points of contact

The University of Glasgow also has two dedicated named points of contact for care-experienced students – Daniel Keenan and Amy McDermott. Dan and Amy can provide advice, guidance and support, from application to graduation.

So, if you are care-experienced and are thinking of applying to the University of Glasgow, or if you have any questions about our entry requirements, SAAS funding, additional bursaries, or the further support the University can offer, please contact Dan and/or Amy directly.

We also encourage all care-experienced applicants to tick the UCAS box which asks if you have spent time in care. This will only ever be used by the University in a positive way, allowing us to contact you directly about the support and provision we can offer.

Definition of care-experience

For the purposes of Admission to the University of Glasgow, the term ‘care-experienced’ refers to anyone who is currently in care, or anyone who is from a looked-after background or who has been in care at any stage in their life, no matter how short, including adopted children who were previously looked-after by a local authority. This care may have been provided in one of many different settings, such as in residential care, foster care, kinship care, or through being looked-after at home with a supervision requirement.

If you have any questions about this definition, or our eligibility criteria, please contact Dan and/or Amy directly. We do not impose any age limit on eligibility for the support we offer. Indeed, in recognition of the fact that each person’s individual experience will be unique and particular to them, we are keen to consider applications on a case-by-case basis. The key criteria for eligibility will always be that an individual’s formal or compulsory schooling was significantly disrupted and/or affected negatively, either by their experience of care or through a breakdown in familial relations. This is the type of disadvantage that our ‘care-experienced student support’ offer is designed to address.