Care-experienced students

Care experienced applies to anyone who has been or is currently in care or from a looked after background at any stage of their life, no matter how short. This care may have been provided in one of many different settings, such as in residential care, foster care, kinship care or looked after at home with a supervision requirement. This also includes adopted children who were previously looked after. If this is you, we’ll provide support no matter what age you are now.

Please note the above definition would normally apply to students studying on one of our campuses with experience of care in the United Kingdom. Any exceptions to this will be considered on a case-by-case basis by our Wellbeing team as appropriate.

In line with The Promise Heriot-Watt is committed to giving equal access and opportunities to people who are care experienced.

Pre-enrolment support

We work closely with care-experienced students and their supporters and advisers at every stage of the process before starting at university. This includes advice on the best route for you to get into university and working with those who might not think university is for them. Get in touch with our Widening Access Team if you have any questions around this.

Tracey Kerr, our Widening Access Manager, is the named point of contact for care-experienced students up to and including the transition to university – wp@hw.ac.uk.

We are also one of the core partners of the Hub for Success which provides individual information and advice on education opportunities, accommodation, and finance, on a drop-in basis and by making home or campus visits.

Applying to our University

We realise that it can be difficult for care-experienced students to get the entry qualifications needed for university so we guarantee those students who have the ability to meet minimum entry requirements an offer of a place of study with us. Make sure you tick the relevant box on your UCAS application form highlighting that you are a care experienced student and get in touch to tell us your circumstances. This will allow us to make you a minimum offer and contact you about the support you are entitled to. Anything you tell us will be held in the strictest confidence.

We’ve put together guidance to help you complete your UCAS application. UCAS also provides dedicated advice for care-experienced students who are applying to university.

If you’re not sure if you’re studying the right courses, or wondering what courses to choose, we can help you figure out the right route for you.

Other support we offer

We can also help you find out about:

• what financial support is available to you such as our Heriot-Watt Access Bursary and our Expenses Bursary. There is also a range of dedicated financial support from other sources. For Scottish students, the Students Awards Agency Scotland offers a bursary for care-experienced students. Other students should check with their funding bodies for more information on what you are entitled to.
• finding accommodation – the University will guarantee year-round accommodation to any care-experienced students who need it for the duration of their studies with us. There is more information on our accommodation pages, and you can email our accommodation team at halls@hw.ed.uk for more details.

After you enrol as a new student

Once you are a student with us, you’ll have access to a wide range of support services, including our wellbeing team.

As a new student or if you are supporting a new or current University student, Emma Smail in our Wellbeing team can help you – e.smail@hw.ac.uk. There is more information on our support pages for students with care experience.