Displaced students find a gateway to university study through Birkbeck partnership with Mosaik Education

Birkbeck, University of London is one of nine UK universities who have partnered with UK NGO, Mosaik Education to offer remote postgraduate scholarships to international students from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Cameroon.

The scheme will support those students affected by the Home Office's decision in March to suspend study visa applications from these four countries. Consequently, nationals from the affected countries were unable to access higher education in the UK, even when they held fully funded scholarships such as Chevening. Approximately 50 students from these four countries have accessed postgraduate study through the Chevening scholarship each year.

Birkbeck is one of the founding partners of Mosaik, the Global Response Platform that enables UK universities to act together to coordinate responses to humanitarian crises and expand access to higher education for students from affected countries.

Through the partnership, Birkbeck will fund three scholarships for students to undertake a Flexible Master's programme delivered fully online. This enables scholars to earn a prestigious and internationally recognised UK qualification while studying from their home countries.

Birkbeck anticipates welcoming the first cohort of three scholars in October 2026 with applications currently being submitted and under assessment. The selected candidates will be announced once the evaluation process has been completed. Birkbeck already offers online support programmes for students, such as Get Ready: Critical Thinking for University.

The University has a long history of supporting displaced students. In 1956, the Birkbeck Students' Union demonstrated a culture of welcome by housing 50 Hungarian refugees fleeing the conflict of the Hungarian Revolution. In 2016, Birkbeck officially launched The Compass Project, a groundbreaking initiative tailored to individuals from forced migrant backgrounds seeking to start or continue university-level education; and in 2021, it became the first university in London to achieve University of Sanctuary status for its active inclusion and widening access to sanctuary seekers.

The latest move will see Birkbeck advance its longstanding mission alongside other universities to react swiftly to overseas crises and provide online education directly to displaced people in conflict zones.

Professor Sally Wheeler, Vice-Chancellor of Birkbeck, said: “Birkbeck was founded over 200 years ago to offer opportunity to everyone through access to an excellent education, and we continue to do so today. That is why we are proud to offer funded postgraduate places to students from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan, and Cameroon, who would otherwise be excluded from studying at UK universities.”

Ben Webster, CEO, Mosaik Education said: “For many of the students we work with, the biggest barrier isn’t skills or ambition; it’s the lack of opportunities where they live. The Global Response Platform brings together the collective strength of UK universities to change that, creating coordinated, practical routes for refugees to access quality education wherever they are.”

So far, 19 places have been secured for the Mosaik Scholarship from Birkbeck, King's College London, the University of London, the University of Leicester, the University of Northampton, the University of St Andrews, Cardiff University, the University of Salford, and Aberystwyth University with Higher Ed Partners UK. All places will be delivered through online or transnational education, currently the only routes to a UK degree for students from the four affected countries.