Kingston alumni raise £96,000 for student support!
Posted Tuesday 17 December 2019
Over 1,500 of our alumni picked up the phones this autumn to chat with students on our Inspire the Future Campaign. If you were one of them - thank you! Our team of thirty students, studying subjects from Aerospace Engineering to Drama, have been reaching out to our alumni to share news about Kingston University and to raise support for our students. This has been our most successful autumn campaign to date, with alumni donating a phenomenal £96,000 towards supporting Hardship Fund grants and KUCares bursaries, as well as other projects across the university. 100% of this support will benefit Kingston students directly. Thank you!
"It is incredible to learn how much Kingston University supports their students and be a part of such a vital campaign" Elisabeth, a third year LLB Law student, shared. As well as supporting students financially, alumni generously shared their career advice and wisdom for post-university life. This has given Kingston students the opportunity to gain graduate level experience and vital tips for success in the working world whilst also enabling them to support their fellow students.
Gabriel, a third year Sports and Exercise Science student, valued the chance to get the "tips and tricks" on how to get into the competitive field of Sports Science. Alex, an Aerospace Engineering with Astronautics student, working on his first Inspire the Future Campaign, found it "inspiring how the past community of Kingston students come together to help the current students", through fundraising and offering to volunteer.
Alumni donations are essential for many student support programmes at Kingston. The last Inspire the Future campaign helped support 144 KUCares bursaries of £1,500, which students receive each year of their studies. These bursaries are provided as part of a holistic package of support for students who have left Local Authority Care, or are irrevocably estranged from their families, to cover the financial strain of attending university that families often aid with. Our KUCares support package is industry leading, was praised by Government Ministers, and contributed to our shortlisting for the UK Social Mobility Awards this year and being named University of the Year. We could not have achieved this without the support of our alumni - thank you!
Taleb, Kingston University BSc Criminology and Psychology graduate and recipient of KUCares support shared the impact this has had on this student experience. "The bursary and the support of the university team have given me the confidence, self-esteem and opportunities of personal growth that have made me the adult I wanted to be. When I meet people who knew me two years ago they are so surprised that I'm where I am now..."
We will be running the campaign again in Spring 2020, and would love it if we could generate even more support to help fund even more support for students. If you would like to be included in the campaign, please get in touch so that we can match you with one of our students for a chat!
