RIS Living Cost Bursary

Living Cost Bursary Criteria:

• You are currently an undergraduate student studying at the University of Reading

• You are a permanent resident of the UK or EU

• Your internship is unpaid (your employer is not paying you a salary, but they can contribute to travel expenses)

• Your internship is 4 – 6 weeks in length (equating to a minimum of 140 hours and a maximum of 210 hours)

• Your internship is not contributing to any other University initiatives (this isn’t part of your degree programme, a summer placement module, or anything similar)

The organisation can be of any size but must meet the below criteria, which your employer will need to confirm:

• Your internship cannot be with the University*

• The organisation must have a registered office address

• The organisation must be a registered company

You are also in at least one of the following categories:

• In receipt of the Reading Bursary

• Are registered with our Disability service

*If you are undertaking an unpaid opportunity at the University of Reading, please refer your supervisor to Holly Forsyth or the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme.

To be considered for the bursary please complete the bursary application form on My Jobs Online, by logging into your My Jobs Online account and clicking the ‘pathways’ icon.

View our step-by-step guide of how to apply through My Jobs Online or watch our online tutorial on how to apply.

PLEASE NOTE - applying for the bursary does not guarantee you funding.

What happens once I have submitted my application?

Before we can confirm any funding, we will enquire as to whether you and your internship can be supported by the bursary.

We then contact your internship supervisor to confirm the details you have given us are correct. We aim to review all applications within 2 working weeks. Once both steps have been completed successfully, we will confirm this to you.

Is there a way I can keep track of my application’s progress?

You can check in on your application’s progress once you have completed this on My Jobs Online. You will be able to see a small checklist at the bottom of your application which tracks the RIS Coordinator’s progress with your application.

How do I receive the funding?

Recipients of the bursary receive 50% of the funds prior to start of the internship, and 50% upon successful completion of the internship, confirmed by an email from your internship supervisor. We aim to process this as swiftly as we can, but this can take up to 3 weeks from the day we receive the confirmation from your supervisor.

“I would definitely recommend the bursary to other students. If they are unable to secure something in the field that they want whilst being paid something just to be able to maintain themselves, this will help. It allowed me to do an internship in a design-based subject, purely out of fascination and interest, it has nothing to do with my area of study and this bursary made it doable. If struggling to find a properly paid internship, I think students would be able to more easily find unpaid ones and be able to get a form of payment”. – 2020 Law student

2020 English Literature student:

Q: How did you find the joining process of the bursary scheme?
A: Extremely easy - it only took me a couple of minutes! All I had to do was to complete a short form answering a few questions!

Q: Would you recommend the bursary to further students?
A: Absolutely, 100%! 

Questions?

If you have any questions about the Reading Internship Scheme’s Living Cost Bursary, please email these to the scheme’s coordinator Holly on h.forsyth@reading.ac.uk.