Approach
We work to support our staff and students to directly ensure our people are not in poverty.
We offer our students systematic and comprehensive financial support, both for students from home and overseas. We partner with ENSA, the Edinburgh Napier Students' Association, which provides independent financial support and advice.
All of our catering provision takes advantage of tax benefits for students, and we signpost students to national student discount schemes such as StudentBeans. We also offer advice and referrals to support for students facing financial hardship, temporary difficulties, or any other problem affecting payment of their fees.
For our staff, we are a committed living wage employer. We only use temporary contracts when unavoidable, and in those instances, we offer staff the same conditions as those on a permanent contract, as outlined in our Fair Work statement.
We are partners in the Scottish Universities Community Bank, an independent credit union enabling our staff to save and borrow directly from their salary. We offer our staff access to Vivup, a benefits platform offering discounts on shopping, services, and wellbeing benefits. We provide a generous pension allowance and additional advice for staff on finances and pensions through Affinity Connect.
Research
As a modern university we pride ourselves on being an enterprising and innovative community. Our research is often the result of partnerships in low or middle income countries, including for example our flagship work working with local communities protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems in Kenya.
Through our Research Explorer you can view our publications on poverty, including refugees and displaced peoples. We also have a number of research projects focusing on policy making to end poverty at all levels, as well as projects focusing on addressing areas related to poverty such as nutrition and housing.
We offer practical start-up assistance in the local community through Bright Red Triangle, where we offer free lifelong enterprise support to Edinburgh Napier staff, students, and alumni along with the staff and students of Queen Margaret University and Edinburgh College (representing 60,000 people in our local community). Services include our community resource bank, member groups, BRT events, workshops and programming, our business adviser, access to our start up studio, and BRT Amplify, where we actively promote our members and their stories to raise their profile and activity to our international network.
We provide additional financial support to the community to support start-ups, through our UNSDG5-aligned discretionary fund, available to women and non-binary entrepreneurs to support the start-up of financially and socially sustainable businesses, as well as funding resources for all our start ups.
Teaching
We have entry support for students from a range of backgrounds, including the most deprived (bottom 20%) postcodes in Scotland and those with refugee or asylum status. We also offer services that support these students throughout their time with us, including support for money troubles, mental wellbeing, disability, accommodation, counselling, and even help to find work.
We have a variety of scholarships, bursaries and grants available to support studies at Edinburgh Napier University. Many of these are specific to low or middle income countries, while others are open to all, including students from low or middle income countries. Depending on the specific award’s eligibility criteria, they can fund living costs, childcare expenses, tuition fees or a specific project that is beneficial to academic and personal development.
Our International College offers students, including those from middle and low income countries, the support and encouragement to build a firm foundation for future success in a diverse range of degree programmes.
We have modules across the University addressing areas such as migration. Our Enhance Curriculum Framework, with a commitment to inclusion, includes addressing poverty in every programme we teach.
Examples