The Turing Scheme  Funding and payments

The standard Cost of Living grant is calculated based on the destination of your host country and the length of your placement. The Turing Scheme funds activities that are a minimum of 28 days and maximum of 365 days.  

The Turing Scheme bands countries together by cost of living:

• Group 1 (higher cost of living)   
• Group 2 (lower cost of living)   

The full list of destination countries within each group is available on the Turing Scheme website under the ‘Cost of Living’ column. The ‘Travel grant rate’ column is only relevant to students who meet the Underrepresented Backgrounds criteria.

For placements lasting 28 to 56 days, students will receive: 

• £19 per day (Group 1 destinations)
• £17 per day (Group 2 destinations)  

For placements lasting 57 to 365 days, students will receive:

• £14 per day (Group 1 destinations)  
• £12 per day (Group 2 destinations)   

The Turing Scheme aims to support students from backgrounds that have been underrepresented in the uptake of global opportunities.

If one or more of the following categories applies to you, you may receive an additional £4 per day on top of the Standard Cost of Living grant to cover living costs, and a contribution towards your travel costs:   

• Students with an annual household income of £25,000 or less (UK nationals only)  
• Students on the Plus Programme  
• Students who have access to Disability Services at the University of Leeds  
• Students from UK Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Groups (UK nationals only)  
• Mature students (UK national undergraduates who started their degree aged 21 or over and have been out of formal education for at least three years)   
• Students receiving Universal Credit or income-related benefits because they are financially supporting themselves or financially supporting themselves and someone who is dependent on them and living with them, such as a child or partner     
• Students who are care-experienced or care leavers  
• Students who have caring responsibilities in a formal capacity, for example caring for a disabled parent or sibling  
• Estranged students (neither of the students’ parents can be found or it is not reasonably practicable to get in touch with either of them)
• Refugees and asylum seekers  
• Students from UK armed forces families  
• Students who are the first in their family to enter higher education (UK nationals only) 

We will ask you to declare if you believe that you meet one or more of the Underrepresented Backgrounds criteria on your Turing Scheme application form. Internal teams at the University will verify your eligibility. You may be asked to provide evidence if your university record cannot be used to verify your eligibility.

Travel grants

If you qualify for the Underrepresented Backgrounds grant, you will receive a Travel grant. Travel grant amounts are fixed and depend on the destination of your placement. See the Department for Education’s Travel grant page for grant amounts.

Please keep all your booking confirmations, receipts, and tickets as you will be asked to submit these as evidence. You must prove that you have fully spent your Travel grant.

Travel expenses that cannot be evidenced will be deducted from your final Cost of Living instalment. You will be required to make a repayment if this deduction results in a negative final instalment.  

Readiness to Travel allowance

If you are eligible for the Underrepresented Backgrounds grant and your placement is shorter than 56 days, you can apply for additional funding towards costs associated with preparing to travel.

The Readiness to Travel allowance is for:

• passports
• visa applications
• reasonable associated costs such as translated documents, police certificates, vaccinations, travel insurance, and medical certificates.

All costs must be evidenced, so please keep hold of your receipts. Readiness to Travel funding is limited and is not guaranteed to participants. To learn more about Readiness to Travel funding, email the Turing Scheme team at TuringScheme@leeds.ac.uk.

Please note: funding to support disability-related costs is referred to as SEND funding by the Turing Scheme. 

Disabled students who receive Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) from Student Finance may be eligible to continue to receive this funding whilst on placement abroad. 

DSA funding would be in addition to the Underrepresented Backgrounds grant if students are eligible to receive both. In some cases, Turing funding may also be available to support disability-related costs that cannot be covered by DSA. 

Funding will be paid to students directly or to the organisation providing the support (e.g. Disability Services, an external provider, or your host placement provider) at an appropriate time. The Turing Scheme team will work with you independently to support individual needs.     

You will have the option to declare if you are in receipt of funded disability support on the Turing Scheme application form. If you want to apply for additional funding to support disability-related costs, please specify your needs and the support you are seeking in detail on the application form. This will enable Disability Services and the Turing Scheme team to offer you the best support.

The Turing Scheme does not allow for double funding. This means participants cannot receive funding from multiple sources to cover the same expenses.

For example, if you are applying for the Underrepresented Backgrounds grant, you will not be eligible for the Turing Travel grant if you are in receipt of the Student Finance England (SFE) Travel grant. However, you will still be eligible for the additional £4 per day for living costs.   

If you are applying for the Standard Cost of Living grant from the Turing Scheme, you can apply and receive the SFE Travel grant, and it will not impact your Turing Scheme application.  

If your Turing Scheme grant does not fully cover the expenses associated with living in or travelling to your host country, you may seek additional funding from another source, but your combined grants should not exceed the total cost of your expenses.

You must declare if you are receiving funds from other sources on your Turing Scheme application form. The Turing Scheme team may request evidence to ensure the combined funds do not exceed the cost of your placement, so it’s important to keep all receipts.   

If you fail to disclose funding from another source, you may be required to repay your Turing Scheme grant in full. Similarly, if it is found that you are in receipt of funds that exceed the cost of your placement, you may be required to repay your Turing Scheme grant in full.

Please answer ‘no’ to the question about receipt of Turing Scheme funding on your SFE application. This is because Turing Scheme funding cannot be guaranteed. 

If you are a Study Abroad student, the answer to this question will not impact your SFE application.

If you are studying a work placement abroad and your Turing application is successful, our Funding team will inform SFE so that your maintenance loan can be amended.

To receive your first Cost of Living instalment, you must have:  

• Completed the Turing Scheme application form  
• Agreed to the terms and conditions of your grant agreement  
• Submitted a satisfactory risk assessment
• Uploaded proof of arrival

For students on placements longer than 56 days, your risk assessment review must be complete before your payment can be processed.  

For students on placements shorter than 56 days, the first Cost of Living instalment will be paid before the placement start date where possible.

To receive your final Cost of Living instalment, you must:   

• Ask a member of staff from your host institution to tick, sign, date and stamp your Certificate of Attendance
• Submit your Certificate of Attendance
• Upload additional evidence of travel costs (only if you are receiving Underrepresented Backgrounds funding).
• Agree to the Final Grant Confirmation
• Submit the Turing feedback form.

Certificate of Attendance

Your Certificate of Attendance must be signed no earlier than one week before the end of your placement, before you leave your host country.  

The deadline for submitting your Certificate of Attendance is two weeks after the end of your placement.   

Important: it is your responsibility to check that the dates on your Certificate of Attendance are correct before uploading them to the form above. The start date should be the date you started your placement in-person, including orientation period if applicable. The end date should be the date of your final exam, assignment or class. If your host institution indicates your placement is significantly longer or shorter than agreed on your application form, you may not receive funding for the additional dates, or you may be required to make a repayment.    

Final Grant Confirmation  

Your Final Grant Confirmation, including a link to the feedback form, will be sent to you via email within three weeks of submitting your Certificate of Attendance. 

To receive your Travel grant, you must have:   

• Completed the Turing Scheme application form    
• Agreed to the terms and conditions of your grant agreement    
• Uploaded proof of travel costs

For students on placements shorter than 56 days, the Travel grant will be paid before the placement start date where possible.

For students on placements longer than 56 days, the Travel grant will usually be paid with your first cost of living instalment.

If you have additional evidence of travel costs at the end of your placement, e.g. because you uploaded a one-way ticket at the start of your placement, please upload evidence for your return journey.  

You must evidence that you have spent the entirety of your travel grant during the placement period.