University of Plymouth

The University of Plymouth is a public research university on the south-west coast, with an established specialism in marine and maritime studies — marine biology, ocean science, navigation and maritime business — reflecting its position in a working port city. Its Welcome to Plymouth Scholarship is automatic rather than competitive: GBP 4,000 off tuition in year one, then GBP 1,000 in each of years two and three, to a maximum of GBP 6,000. An award granted on meeting the entry requirements, rather than on beating other applicants, can be budgeted on from the start. Two conditions bind it. Plymouth states that scholarships will not be applied for students who are sponsored, which would exclude a Bolashak scholar; and the award does not reach the Peninsula medical and dental schools. A tuition deposit of GBP 3,500 is required, which is at the lower end of the sector. Plymouth is a mid-sized coastal city in Devon with living costs below the southern English average.