Staff and friends of the University of Worcester have begun fundraising efforts to support students through scholarships and hardship funds.
L-R Elliot Atkinson - Vice President, Education, Prof David Green CBE DL, Vice Chancellor, Ruttuja Mane - Students' Union President, Jack Lambert, Vice President Student Activities.
As part of the University’s two-year-long Anniversaries Campaign, marking two major milestones in its history – 20 years since gaining full university status in 2005 and 80 years since being founded as an Emergency Teacher Training College in 1946 – the University is aiming to raise funds to help students through their studies.
Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, Professor David Green CBE DL, said: “We’ve got a lot of students at Worcester who are full of ability, and determination to get that job, to get that qualification, to make a contribution to society.”
He continued: “Because of cost-of-living pressures and the spike in inflation, there are students studying full time and working 20 hours a week, sometimes more, and they’re still finding it difficult to make ends meet.”
He added: “There are also students who can’t work alongside their studies, sometimes because of a disability, or because they have caring responsibilities for their parents, their children, or siblings. Many, many of our students still face the same problems that the rest of society faces.”
The University already gives many scholarships and prizes to students which are funded through generous donations by philanthropists, the University’s distinguished Honorary Fellows and local employers. Increasingly, successful graduates of the University are also helping.
Professor Green is concerned that some students are overwhelmed by financial pressures and withdraw from their course which means they won’t benefit from the outstanding employment record of the University’s graduates which is the Number One multi-disciplinary university in Britain for graduates being in sustained employment, according to the UK Government’s official Longitudinal Education Outcomes statistics.
Now staff are pulling together to further boost funds to help even more students.
Central to the activities is the Charity Challenge; involving walking overnight, paddling for miles along the River Severn, pulling a tractor and many other challenges in an action packed 24 hours. Staff will also run car washes, bake and craft sales and quizzes.
As part of the fundraising efforts, the Vice Chancellor will also devote two weeks of his summer holiday to walking 280km along the coastal Camino Portugues, the historic pilgrim’s path from Porto in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Spain.
An anonymous donor has already pledged to match every penny raised up to £100 for every kilometre Professor Green will walk, totalling an incredible donation of £28,000, which will double to £56,000 if enough donors come forward to sponsor his 14-day long walk.
Professor Green said: “I am very proud of my colleagues and all who have participated in our charity fundraising efforts in the past and are participating in this year’s Charity Challenge.
They’ll work incredibly hard while raising tens of thousands of pounds for this vital cause. Walking 280km over 14 days is also a tough challenge, at least for me, and I want to help raise every pound we can.”
If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so by following this link to Professor Green’s Just Giving page.
For information on courses at University of Worcester visit www.worcester.ac.uk or for application enquiries, telephone 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk