University of Oxford
There are support schemes for refugees and asylum seekers here — up to £10,000. Below: who each one is for, how to apply, and how it feels here as an adult student.
How it feels here as an adult
21.4% of students are over 30 and 37.5% are over 25 — an average picture for a UK university.
HESA · Table 3 — HE student enrolments by HE provider and age group, 2024/25 · Counts every student at the provider, including postgraduate, distance and partner programmes. Source
Can you study alongside work
Among undergraduate programmes in the official database there is no part-time option — full-time only.
Discover Uni publishes undergraduate programmes only — postgraduate study is not in the database, so “full-time only” here means undergraduate. Part-time does not always mean evening classes: check the timetable with the university. Source: Discover Uni — the official database of UK university courses; downloaded 22 August 2026.
What the university gives
Graduate Scholarship Scheme for Ukraine
up to £10,000Open to applicants who do receive student finance. Gives: full tuition waiver · living costs.
Dates: No fixed scholarship deadline; must apply before Oxford's standard course admissions deadlines for 2026/27 entry (e.g. many Master's Jan 2026)
Palestine Crisis Scholarship Scheme
The student finance condition is not stated. Gives: full tuition waiver · living costs · travel costs.
Dates: 4 Apr 2025 for 2025/26 entry (closed); a 2026-entry version of this page exists at ox.ac.uk but its exact 2026/27 deadline could not be confirmed (site […]
Open to applicants who do receive student finance. Gives: full tuition waiver · living costs · application support.
Dates: For 2026-27 entry: apply to the course by its own Dec/Jan deadline and tick the displacement-background box; late option via email by 15 Mar 2026
UNIQplus (formerly UNIQ+) Research Internship
up to £3,000Open to applicants who do receive student finance. Gives: living costs · accommodation · travel costs.
Dates: Applications closed for UNIQplus 2026 (programme runs 6 Jul–20 Aug 2026)
If you are an asylum seeker
While there is no decision on your claim, government student finance is closed to you. That is the rule in England; in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland funding works differently and the decision belongs to the local agency rather than SFE. Universities decide the tuition rate differently: some will treat you as “overseas”, the expensive rate, and some charge asylum seekers the home rate. Ask about this first — the answer changes the sum several times over. The main road here is still one: a scholarship from the university itself, created for people in your position.
- Palestine Crisis Scholarship Scheme
- UNIQplus (formerly UNIQ+) Research Internship — up to £3,000
Check separately college and ESOL: in England free English classes are normally available after six months of waiting for a decision, and it does not affect a future university application.
If you have refugee status
With recognised refugee status or humanitarian protection you pay the home fee rate and can access student finance from day one: the three-year residence rule does not apply to these statuses (Education (Student Support) Regulations, Schedule 1). That changes the picture: the loan covers tuition, and a scholarship is no longer instead of it but on top — for living costs, housing, a laptop. Schemes marked “only if student finance is not available to you” will normally turn you down, and that is about the scheme's condition, not about you.
- Palestine Crisis Scholarship Scheme — the university has not stated the student finance condition; ask before applying
- Refugee Academic Futures Scholarships
- UNIQplus (formerly UNIQ+) Research Internship — up to £3,000
If you only have a school certificate
That is a normal starting point, not a problem. A school certificate from another country is rarely treated as equivalent to British school qualifications, so the way into university runs through a foundation year — a preparatory year inside the university — or through Access to HE at a college.
On most of these routes there are no subject entrance exams: the exceptions are medicine, dentistry and creative courses, where tests or portfolios do appear. The main thing you will have to prove is English: usually IELTS or an equivalent, and sometimes a college result is enough. An interview is not required everywhere, and where it happens it is a conversation about your plans, not a test of knowledge. Step by step — in the route guide.
Ranking position
34 of 100 in the social mobility ranking of 2025.
The ranking covers English universities only, so you cannot use it to compare a Scottish university with an English one. The ranking measures how many students from low-income families a university admits and what happens to them afterwards — employment and pay. It is not a prestige ranking. For someone starting life again this is more useful than prestige rankings: it shows what a university does for students who begin without advantages. 2025 English Social Mobility Index →
What to ask the university
- How will you decide my fee status given my immigration status — home or overseas?
- Does the scholarship still apply if a decision on my claim arrives mid-year?
- Do I need an offer for the programme before applying for the scholarship?
- What English qualifications do you accept besides IELTS?
Who to write to: sanctuary@ox.ac.uk
Every fact on this page is checked against the university's own site and official sources; the check date is shown with each scheme. All universities with support schemes · All schemes · Education hub