Turn your ambitions into reality with funding to help you volunteer or undertake a work placement abroad.

The Turing Scheme is the UK government’s programme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world.

Through this scheme, Bath Spa University is able to provide a limited number of grants. As long as you fully complete your placement, the grant does not need to be returned to BSU.

The grant is designed to be used to cover some costs towards your trip abroad, such as flights, insurance, accommodation and other living expenses.

Criteria

This grant is aimed at students who meet the Turing Scheme’s definition of ‘disadvantaged’ and are going abroad to undertake a work or volunteering placement. 

In summary:

  • Your placement must be at least 28 days long
  • It can only be funded up until 31 August 2025
  • You cannot apply for retrospective funding
  • Undergraduate students, postgraduate students and recent graduates can apply

Please find a more detailed breakdown below.

Am I eligible for this funding?

To qualify for this funding, you must be either: 

  • a student studying a BSU course at either Newton Park, Locksbrook or BSU London
  • a recent graduate completing your placement within 12 months of completing your qualification with BSU. You do not need to be selected for Turing Scheme funding before you graduate.

and

  • meet the Turing Scheme’s definition of ‘disadvantaged’ – see below for details.

You do not need to be a UK national, and there is no maximum age limit. Please note that Turing do not fund staff accompanying higher education students on placements. 

Unfortunately, you are not eligible if you:

  • do not meet the Turing Scheme’s definition of ‘disadvantaged’ 
  • are located overseas and studying UK or British overseas territory qualifications remotely 
  • permanently studying at overseas campuses of UK or British overseas territory providers.

Please note that for the remainder of 2024/25, Bath Spa University only has funding available for students who meet the Turing Scheme’s definition of ‘disadvantaged’.

The Turing Scheme defines disadvantaged students as meeting any of the following criteria: 

  • students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) 
  • someone with an annual household income of £25,000 or less 
  • someone who receives Universal Credit or income-related benefits because they are financially supporting: 
    • themselves
    • themselves and someone who is dependent on them, such as a child or partner 
  • someone with experience of being in care or who is a care leaver – including anyone who is or has been in care, or from a looked after background, at any stage of their life 
  • a carer, meaning anyone who both:
    • looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction, and cannot cope without their support 
    • is not paid for this care
  • someone who is estranged – including anyone who has had no contact with their biological or adoptive parents for 12 months or more, or the relationship with their parents has broken down within the last 12 months 
  • a refugee or an asylum seeker.


If you are unsure if you qualify for this funding, please contact BSUexchange@bathspa.ac.uk or pop into the Go Global Office (NP.MH.G.02) and we can check this for you.

Does my placement qualify?

Your placement can be a work, study (including research) or volunteering placement that helps you to develop skills and improve your education and career prospects.

The placement must take place during the academic year, between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025.

Where the placement is located in a country where the academic term date begins outside of these dates, we are able to provide funding to support this as long as most of the placement is within the date range.

Please note that we are only allowed to provide funding for the part of the placement taking place between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025.

Placement lengths:

  • If you are a current student, your placement needs to be a minimum of 28 days and a maximum of 12 months, and you can study, do work experience or volunteer abroad. 
  • If you are a recent graduate, your placement needs to be a minimum of 28 days and a maximum of 12 months, and you can do work experience or volunteer abroad.
Where can I go?

You can go to both public or private organisations outside the UK which are active in education, training or the labour market.

Please speak to the Go Global team about your plans, or if you are still figuring them out, ask us what the next steps are.

Organisations can be:

  • higher education providers
  • small, medium or large enterprises, including social enterprises
  • local, regional or national public bodies
  • social partners or other representatives of working life, including chambers of commerce, craft, professional associations, trade unions and research institutes
  • foundations
  • schools, institutes or educational centres at any stage, from primary to upper secondary education, including vocational and adult education
  • non-profit organisations, associations and non-government organisations
  • bodies providing career guidance, professional counselling or information services.
What funding is available?

Turing Scheme funding is a contribution towards the costs of international educational placements.

You should not use Turing Scheme funding towards any costs that are already covered by another source of funding, such as the SFE student travel reimbursement.

BSU will issue you with a Turing Scheme Grant Agreement. As part of this agreement, each student has to agree to the Terms and Conditions in order to receive the funding. This is for all placements no matter the length, and grants will be issued in stages: 

  • If you are a current student, you will receive 80% of the funding at the beginning of your placement, once all required documentation has been sent to Go Global. You will receive the final 20% at the end of your placement once the final questionnaire has been completed.  
  • If you are a recent graduate, once all required documentation has been sent to Go Global, you will receive your funding in 3 instalments, with the final 20% at the end of your placement once the final questionnaire has been completed.

Contribution to living costs

A portion of the Turing Scheme funding is to help with daily living costs for each student. The amount each student can receive depends on the group the destination is in.  

Groups are based on the Turing Scheme’s assessment of the general cost of living in those destinations: 

  • Group 1 – higher cost of living 
  • Group 2 – lower cost of living 

Information on the destinations in each group is available in the list of destinations and grant rates, and there are different rates depending on the length of the placement.  

Students who complete a placement lasting more than 57 days will receive the 57 to 365 days rate for the whole placement, including the first 28 to 56 days

Placement duration Group 1 Group 2
28 to 56 days £23 per day £21 per day
57 to 365 days £18 per day £16 per day

Travel funding

The Turing Scheme Global Placement award will provide funding towards the direct costs of travel, for one return journey including transfers. Funding is a set travel grant for each destination.

All students awarded this money must supply the Go Global Team with evidence of the actual travel costs as well as a copy of their travel record (boarding pass etc).

Students are required to return any travel funding that is not spent on eligible travel activity to the Turing Scheme, via BSU’s Go Global Team. 

Readiness to travel

Through the Turing Scheme we can re-imburse students from disadvantaged backgrounds for the costs associated with preparing to travel.

This ‘readiness to travel’ funding is only for: 

  • passports 
  • visa applications and reasonable associated costs such as translated documents and police certificates 
  • vaccines 
  • travel insurance 
  • medical certificates.

Extra funding for students with SEND

Through the Turing Scheme, BSU will provide extra funding for SEND students to support the additional costs that SEND students may face on international placements. For example, visits of up to 3 days where staff or students may need to visit the host destination to carry out pre-placement checks. 

You must outline why you need the funds when you apply for the scheme. These costs will be paid as actual costs rather than based on set rates.

When students are in receipt of Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA), you should not apply for costs that are already funded by DSA. You can still apply for SEND support for costs that are not funded through DSA.

How to apply

Please submit your application via the AppHub.

All applications for mobilities in 2024/25 will close at 9am on Tuesday 1 July 2025, and applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. 

What happens next

Applications will be reviewed in the first week of each calendar month. 

If your application is successful, you will be notified within three weeks. We will then ask you to sign a Grant Agreement document and complete a risk assessment. The funds will be paid to you before you are due to travel abroad.

Terms and conditions

Successful recipients will be subject to the following conditions:

  • The award must be used for the purpose stated on your application form.
  • If, by reason of any emergency or other circumstance, the Award holder is unable to complete the international placement, he or she will be required to refund all or part of the Award as may be considered reasonable.
  • Recipients will be expected to complete all paperwork including – but not limited to – risk assessment, certificate of attendance and the feedback questionnaire that will be emailed once the placement has been completed. Comments from the feedback questionnaire may be used on the University website or in other promotional material.
  • Recipients will support the University with evidence for travel and spend, as required for BSU by the Turing Scheme.

Contact us

If you have any questions or require assistance completing the application form, please email the Go Global Team via BSUexchange@bathspa.ac.uk.