COURTESY GOLDSMITHS
ArtLyst tipped us off to the news that Goldsmiths, University of London will be offering six new scholarships, worth over £140,000 ($214,340) a year altogether, aimed at refugees and asylum seekers in light of the ongoing immigrant crises in the Middle East, Africa, and parts of Europe.
In a statement, Patrick Loughrey, Warden of Goldsmiths, said:
“We have never seen events like those which unfolded over the summer. Those images and stories compelled us to act – we simply could not stand by and do nothing. Goldsmiths is in a position of real privilege to be able to help, initially with these scholarships but also by developing an ongoing academic response to this terrible crisis.”
According to a release on their website, the scholarships will go to fund full-time teaching and housing fees for three undergraduate and three postgraduate students from each of the college’s three schools, as well as maintenance funds of up to £10,000 a year. The scholarship includes plans for ongoing English language lessons as well as trauma relief counseling. Students who have been accepted to Goldsmiths will be eligible for consideration if they are classified as asylum seekers, or if they have submitted an asylum application.
Goldsmiths Students’ Union Education Officer, Danny Nasr, commented in the same release:
“Education is the most powerful and sustainable resource on the planet. To those with nothing, and to those who have lost everything, education is the only meaningful mechanism of rebellion; the only meaningful mechanism of change.”