University of Bristol Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship, UK

Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship

The Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship scheme is open to undergraduate students with exceptional musical, dramatic or sporting talent.

The scheme is open to students applying to any undergraduate course at the University. As the scheme is designed to attract students with exceptional abilities outside their normal field of study, a Music student would not be eligible for a music scholarship, and a Drama student would not be eligible for a drama scholarship. Liberal Arts students may not follow the Film or Theatre subject pathways in order to be eligible for a Vice Chancellor's Scholarship.

Historically, scholarships in Music and Drama have been valued at £3,000. Scholarships in Sport have been valued at £1,500. No more than 20 scholarships are usually awarded within an academic year. This will be confirmed in due course.

Students applying for a single or joint honours Music degree will not be eligible for a Music scholarship. Students applying for a single or joint honours Drama degree will not be eligible for a Drama scholarship. Students applying for a Liberal Arts degree will not be eligible for a Drama Scholarship if they follow the Film or Theatre subject pathways.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate outstanding artistic, creative or sporting potential. Awards will be made on a competitive basis but applicants will normally be expected to satisfy the following minimum criteria:

Music/vocal awards: A minimum of Grade VIII in examinations offered by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (or equivalent). Those students short listed for a scholarship will be required to attend an audition in Bristol at the end of February or beginning of March 2016. Full details will be sent to short listed students during the first two weeks in February. Any students invited to audition, who are not able to attend on the advertised date, will not be considered for a scholarship. Travel Bursaries to attend the audition are available for home (UK) students from lower income families (normally those with household incomes of £42,875 or less).
Drama awards: Evidence of sustained extra-curricular engagement with theatre and/or filmmaking, along with distinguished achievement in relevant school subjects (eg theatre studies, film studies or other arts/humanities subjects).
Sporting awards: Successful applicants will have had considerable success at representative level. It would be unusual for an award to be given to a student who had not had International honours, at least at Junior level. Although a student might apply for other scholarships, such as the government funded Talented Athlete Sports Scheme awards, the holder of a Vice-Chancellor’s award must not hold other funded sporting grants.

The student shall apply through UCAS for admission to any undergraduate course at the University of Bristol by 15 January in the year of admission.
The student must submit a separate Scholarship application directly to the Admissions Department by the 15 January in the year of admission.
The student must firmly accept an academic offer of a place on any undergraduate course at the University of Bristol by 1 September in the year of entry. If the offer is conditional, the student will need to fulfil the terms of his/her offer and have their place confirmed by 1 September in the year of entry.
Successful applicants will be expected to: Successfully audition for the University's Symphony or Chamber orchestras, or University Singers or Chamber Choir (keyboard players would participate in chamber ensemble playing, approved by the Music Department); or contribute substantially to the output of the University of Bristol Union (UBU) DRAMSOC or Music Theatre Bristol societies; or become a member of the Performance Squad, part of the University Performance programme.

Sport applications

Applications for the Vice Chancellor’s scholarships in Sport are managed through the Performance Squad application. Details will be available on the Performance Squad webpage on the Sport, Exercise and Health website.

Departments should ensure that their scholarship selection processes allow both international and home (UK and EU) students to be transparently considered.

Students must first be given an academic offer before they are considered for a VC scholarship. Their academic offer must follow our Admissions principles and each school’s published policy; the academic offer will be based on the applicant’s academic potential and attainment only.

All applications (both home/EU and international) must be received by the published deadline. No application may be considered until the deadline has passed.

Applications are considered initially by staff in the Sports Centre, Music or Drama department.

The applications are ranked and at least the top ten in each field are then forwarded, with the experts’ recommendations, to Pro Vice-Chancellors for the final selection

The Pro Vice-Chancellors make the final selection of no more than 20 scholarships, with at least six reserves.

Up to 20 awards are normally available each year, valued at £1,500 per year in sport and £3000 in music and drama. Confirmation of these amounts will be updated shortly.

The scholarships will be awarded in the first instance for a period of one year. They are renewable, provided that the above conditions are met and the student passes their examinations and progresses through to the next year of study on their chosen course.

Successful applicants will be expected to put Bristol as their firm choice in the first instance, and with regards to their scholarship offer, either:

Successfully audition for the University's Symphony or Chamber orchestras, or University Singers or Chamber Choir (keyboard players would participate in Chamber ensemble playing, approved by the Music Department) and participate in other musical opportunities offered from time to time by the Department of Music.
Contribute substantially to the output of the University of Bristol Union (UBU) DRAMSOC, Spotlights, or Music Theatre Bristol societies
Become a member of the Performance Sports Squad.

Renewal information

The scholarships will be awarded in the first instance for a period of one year, renewable provided that the following conditions and criteria continue to be met:

Successfully audition for the University’s Symphony or Chamber orchestras, or University Singers or Chamber Choir (keyboard players would participate in chamber ensemble playing, approved by the Department of Music) and participate in other opportunities offered from time to time by the Department of Music;
Contribute substantially to the output of the University of Bristol Union (UBU) DRAMSOC or Music Theatre Bristol societies
Maintaining membership of the Performance Squad.

In addition to the above criteria, students should also satisfactorily progress through to the next year of study on their chosen course.

Important information

Students will not be eligible for a scholarship if they transfer to a Music degree (if they are in receipt of Music VC Scholarship), or a Drama degree (if they are in receipt of a Drama VC Scholarship). Students who follow the Film or Theatre subject pathways on the Liberal Arts degree are not eligible for a Drama VC Scholarship.
Scholarships will not normally be available if a year of study has to be repeated for academic reasons.
Students repeating a year due to extenuating circumstances will be considered for additional scholarship funding for the repeat year.
Scholarships will not normally be paid to students while they are on a year abroad, as they will not be able to satisfy the conditions of the award.
Drama award holders will be required to produce a termly report at the end of each term, outlining their contribution to their society/societies during that term. The contacts for Departments of Theatre/ Film and Television, and the Drama Society Presidents will be asked to comment on the reports before the next instalment of VC Scholarship is paid. Drama awards holders will be contacted if it is felt that their contribution for the pervious term has not been met.
An annual report will be requested from all award holders to show that they continue to demonstrate the requirements for the award.

To APPLY click "Further official information" below and fill the application form.

University of Bristol Vice-Chancellor's Scholarship, UK