Higher education funding

Participating higher education providers must be officially registered or recognised Higher Education (HE) providers in the UK. As part of eligibility checking, the TSA will verify a HE provider’s registration or recognition status through the following methods:

• if in England, checking the Office for Students register
• if in Northern Ireland, checking the ‘Publishing and maintaining a list of higher education providers’ section of the Department for the Economy website
• if in Scotland, checking the Scottish Funding Council website for universities or colleges
• if in Wales, checking the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales website
• if in a British Overseas Territory, checking they are registered with the appropriate authorities. Please see Annex D of the Programme Guide [insert link] for a list of recognised education providers in British Overseas Territories.

Note that:

• Higher education consortia are not eligible to apply
• Grant Applications from transnational education (TNE) campuses are not eligible
• Turing Scheme funds cannot be used to travel from a sending UK based HE provider to its own overseas campuses.

Eligible receiving organisations
HE providers in the UK can send their Participants to the following receiving organisations outside of the UK (or in the case of Applicants in British Overseas Territories, outside of the British Overseas Territory in question):

• any HE provider other than the sending provider’s own overseas campuses
• any public or private organisation active in the labour market or in the fields of education and training. For example, such an organisation can be:
  • a public or private, a small, medium, or large enterprise (including social enterprises)
  • a public body at local, regional, or national level
  • a social partner or other representative of working life, including chambers, craft, professional associations, trade unions and research institutes
  • a foundation
  • a school, institute, or educational centre (at any level, from primary school to upper The Turing Scheme Programme Guide 2023 to 2024 13 secondary education, and including vocational education and adult education)
  • a non-profit organisation, association, non-governmental organisation (NGO)
  • a body providing career guidance, professional counselling, and information services.

Eligible Participants
To take part in an HE Turing Scheme Mobility, Participants must be:

• registered at a UK or British Overseas Territories HE provider and enrolled in studies leading to a recognised degree or another recognised HE qualification (up to and including the level of doctorate); or
• Recent HE Graduates of the Grant Recipient, who may participate in a traineeship and must carry out and complete their traineeship abroad within 12 months of graduating. Graduates do not need to be selected before they graduate.

Participants do not need to be UK nationals to be eligible to receive funding.
For those Participants under the age of 18, appropriate safeguarding rules must be adhered to (please see Safeguarding section later in the programme guide).

Mobilities
HE Participants can undertake both study and work Mobilities abroad. These Placements can last for a minimum of four weeks (28 calendar days) up to a maximum of twelve months.

1. Check the eligibility criteria and funding rules

Read the programme guide in detail to ensure you understand all the funding rules and eligibility criteria for your chosen activity.  Make sure you fully understand the rules around project duration, budget and eligible participants.

2. Plan your project

Prepare a project proposal for your organisation based on the funding criteria. You should consider the aims, objectives and impact of your project. For more details on the objectives that Turing Scheme projects must focus on, visit the About the scheme page.

3. Check the deadline

Applications for the Turing Scheme in the 2023 to 2024 academic year are now closed. Successful bids will be notified in summer 2023

4. Use the application resources

Ensure you make full use of the application resources provided, including programme guidance, application guidance, webinars and the service centre. You can find details of the help available in the next tab.

Once you have applied, we will work with you to perform financial due diligence checks. We are working hard to ensure the administrative burden of the Turing Scheme is kept as low as possible, and will work with you throughout the process.

Download the 2023 to 2024 programme guide (2 MB) for full details of the Turing Scheme

You can also contact our Service Centre by emailing Turing-scheme@capita.com

Under the Turing Scheme, UK organisations with successful applications will receive funding towards delivering placements and exchanges. This will include providing participants with grants to help cover travel expenses and costs of living, and administrative funding for delivering the projects.

Organisational support will be made available and covers the costs directly linked to the administration and implementation of a placement. Under each project, £315 will be provided per participant for the first 100 participants. From the 101st participant onwards, £180 will be provided per participant.

An amount of funding will be provided to go towards the direct costs of travel for placements from disadvantaged backgrounds. This will be dependent on distance between the sending and destination provider and will support the cost of the round trip. All amounts available have been outlined below:

• 10 to 99km: £20
• 100 to 499km: £165
• 500 to 1999km: £250
• 2,000 to 2,999km: £325
• 3,000 to 3,999km: £480
• 4,000 to 7,999km: £745
• 8,000 to 12,000km: £905
• 12,000km+: £1,360

In exceptional circumstances, the scheme will also provide a financial contribution towards the costs of expensive travel for disadvantaged participants. If the selected travel rate does not cover at least 70% of the actual costs of travelling between the sending organisation location and receiving organisation location, up to 80% of the those actual costs will instead be covered.

Cost of Living

An amount of funding will be provided to go towards the general cost of living for each participant. This will vary depending on sector and/or destination country/territory.

Destination countries/territories are grouped into three categories: Group 1 (high cost of living), Group 2 (medium cost of living), Group 3 (lower cost of living). Check the full list of destination countries/ territories within each group.

Higher Education student placements with a total duration of four to eight weeks will receive:
• £545 per month (equal to £136.25 per week for Group 1 destinations)
• £480 per month (equal to £120 per week for Group 2 and 3 destinations).

HE student placements with a total duration of nine weeks to twelve months will receive:
• £380 per month (for Group 1 destinations)
• £335 per month (for Group 2 and 3 destinations)

Please note that placements lasting nine weeks to twelve months will receive the rates identified for this category for the full duration of the mobility and not the higher rates for the initial period of eight weeks. The minimum duration of 4 weeks for Higher Education placements is equal to 28 working days.

Additional support for those from disadvantaged backgrounds
Higher Education participants from defined disadvantaged backgrounds will receive actual costs for additional travel expenses, including costs of visas, passports, and health insurance. We see this as crucial because travel related expenses can often be a deterrent to potential participants. To find out more about what we define as disadvantaged groups, visit the Widening access page.

Additional support for those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
For participants with SEND, the scheme will fund up to 100% of actual costs for support directly related to their additional needs. However, this funding will also cover preparatory visits by the sending organisation to carry out risk assessments and ensure participants will be able to equally access and take part in all elements of a placement. Pre-visits can be for a maximum duration of three days. Pre-visits are not available for any other purpose.

Additional support for those from disadvantaged backgrounds
Participants on an HE placement meeting the disadvantaged background criteria outlined in Annex A of the Programme Guide will receive an additional £110 per month to their cost-of-living grant.

As such, the total cost of living grant funding provided to students from disadvantaged backgrounds will be as follows:

For placements with a total duration of four to eight weeks:

• £654 per month (equal to £163.50 per week to Group 1 countries or territories)
• £590 per month (equal to £147.50 per week to Group 2 and 3 countries or territories).

For placements with a total duration of nine weeks to twelve months:

• £490 per month (equal to £122.50 per week to Group 1 countries or territories)
• £445 per month (equal to £111.25 per week to Group 2 and 3 countries or territories).

Please note that placements lasting nine weeks to twelve months will receive the rates identified for this category for the full duration of the mobility and not the higher rates for the initial period of eight weeks.

Higher Education participants from defined disadvantaged backgrounds will receive actual costs.

For HE students who do not meet the above criteria for additional support, there may be other grants available to cover some travel expenses, relevant to the student finance system relevant to the participant:

• England – Studying abroad: travel grants for students (England) –  www.gov.uk/travel-grants-students-england
• Scotland – Guide to undergraduate funding – SAAS – https://www.saas.gov.uk/guides/guide-to-undergraduate-funding
• Wales – Student Finance Wales – www.studentfinancewales.co.uk/undergraduate[1]students/new-students/whatfinancial-support-is[1]available/travel-grant.asp
• Northern Ireland – Spending part of your degree course abroad – https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/spending-part-your-degree-course-abroad
• British Overseas Territories participants should check with their government’s education department for the details of support available to them.