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Uniplaces has announced Francisco Goiana da Silva from Imperial College London is one of five friendly students who will be awarded its first ever ‘Living the Dream’ scholarship.
Since university fees were raised following the last general election, some students have found the cost of university out of their reach. With UK uni fees set to remain high regardless of today’s election result, Uniplaces hopes its Living the Dream scholarship will offer students a helping hand.
The scholarship aims to make university living costs more manageable while improving student mobility around the world. The lucky UK recipient of the first ever round of scholarships, who attends Imperial College London, will have his accommodation costs paid for next semester.
To be in with a chance of being awarded the scholarship, Uniplaces asked students to film themselves committing random acts of kindness in an effort to make university a better place for their fellow students.
Francisco joins students from Spain, Italy, the USA and Poland as the first of many to be awarded the scholarship after he helped fellow students relax by arranging an informal wine tasting session. His friends at Imperial College London were delighted when Francisco surprised them with wine from the famous Douro Valley in his native Portugal.
‘We’re thrilled to offer Francisco a Living the Dream scholarship and his act of kindness totally deserved the 860 votes it received. It’s a great example of the kind of behaviour we like to see among student communities, which helps people get to know each other through a bit of old fashioned friendliness!
‘We believe that more students should take a leaf out of Francisco’s book and study at the right university for them, whatever country that might be in. The Living The Dream scholarship will make this possible for more students around the world by helping break down social and geographical barriers and empowering student mobility.’
Ben Grech, Uniplaces co-founder
The first-of-its-kind Living The Dream scholarship has been crowd-funded by students, with £1 from each booking made on the Uniplaces website going towards the scholarship fund. Built on a social growth model, the scholarship is set to help more students each year as Uniplaces attracts more users to its bookings website.
Over 100 students from all over the world entered their random acts of kindness, which ranged from cleaning up their campus to tutoring fellow students in their spare time.
John Samaniego, from the University of Texas, who gave out free cookies to students to help fight the Monday blues.
Unai de la Rica, from the University of Navarra, who dedicated his spare time to tutoring fellow students.
Francesca Palombo, from the University of Venice, who risked being late to her class in order to help a lost student get to his class.
Magdalena Targosz, from the University of Jagiellonian in Poland, who gave out cupcakes and hid friendly notes inside intimidating textbooks to encourage students to stay optimistic.
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