Colleges’ Bursary Campaign gets a boost from funding partners

Schumacher College and Dartington School of Arts are increasing financial support for students from less well-off backgrounds who want to study at the colleges.

Although tuition fees have recently been reduced and the introduction of low residency options has enabled students to remain in country while studying, it is hoped the move will encourage a more diverse range of students to be able to take up courses.

Schumacher College, part of the Dartington Trust, already has a number of scholarship and bursary opportunities but it has been actively seeking partnerships with like-minded organisations.

The college recently received a bursary donation of £45,000 from a foundation, which prefers to be anonymous, that supports organic farming biodiversity and ecosystem restoration.

Head of College Dr Pavel Cenkl said accessibility for holistic education continued to be a priority.

“It’s a key part our mission at Schumacher College and the Dartington Arts School. We want to make our programmes accessible to as diverse a population as possible and bursary support enables students who could not ordinarily afford higher education to join any of our postgraduate or undergraduate programmes.

“We have reduced fees and made the learning the more flexible for overseas students but we recognise that tuition fees can still be out of reach for many of them, so we are very happy to be able to provide partial funding through bursaries and scholarships.”

In addition arts organisation Hauser and Wirth has just launched the Gustav Metzger Foundation Scholarship in partnership with Dartington Arts School.

It will enable a student who has sought asylum the UK to study on MA ‘Arts and Place’ starting April 2022 until January 2023.

The gallery’s support will include tuition fees for the one-year course, living expenses and associated residency location at Hauser & Wirth Somerset for two weeks.

Gustav Metzger came to Britain in 1939 at the start of the Second World War, as part of the Kindertransport which saved the lives of over 10,000 Jewish children. He was an artist and political activist who developed the concept of Auto Destructive Art and the Art Strike.

Co-directors and curators of the Gustav Metzger Foundation Ula Dajerling and Leanne Dmyterko said:

“Gustav appreciated the historic significance of the Dartington experiment and repeatedly visited Dartington College of Arts between 1999 and 2008. He was attracted to the college’s pioneering approach towards art-making and learning.”

Earlier this year Schumacher College launched a 30th Anniversary Bursary Campaign designed to widen access to transformative education for students around the world. Pavel added:

“All the grant funding that we receive as part of our bursary funding programme has already helped to support students across our courses.

“But we want to be able to support even more people around the world, those that would never have imagined they could study with us. With donations through the bursary campaign we can achieve that.”