Support for Nursing and Midwifery Students in Scotland 2012/13

Eligibility

Students undertaking courses in pre-registration nursing and midwifery leading to the award of a degree or Diploma in Higher Education may be eligible for a bursary under the NMSB scheme. Eligibility for support depends on TWO criteria -that your course is eligible and that you meet the residence requirements.

Course Eligibility

Bursaries are for eligible students attending courses which:

• lead to registration on the Professional Register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC); and
• are partly or wholly funded by the Scottish Government Health Directorates (SGHD).

Residence Eligibility

If you began your course after 31 July 2002 you must satisfy the same prior residence rules as apply to undergraduate students in the general higher education system. You must have been ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Isle of Man for the three years immediately before the relevant date (the first day of the first academic year of the course). There will be two relevant dates; to reflect the two start dates for nursing and midwifery courses. These dates will be 1 January and 1 August. If you are not a UK national you must also have settled status in the UK within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971 on the same relevant dates. To find out about getting settled status, you can visit the Home Office website or phone their helpline on 0870 6067766. If you have not been living in the UK you may still qualify, depending on your circumstances.

You must also be ordinarily resident in the UK on the first day of the first academic year of your course. Ordinarily resident has been defined in the courts as 'habitual and normal residence in one place'. It means that you, your parents or your husband or wife live in a country year after year by choice throughout a set period, apart from temporary or occasional absences such as holidays or business trips.

We will not treat you as ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom if your main purpose in coming here was for education and you would have otherwise have been living elsewhere.

Students from abroad

If you do not meet the conditions set out above, support may still be available to:

• UK nationals and family members of such nationals returning from other member states of the European Union (EU) or from elsewhere in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland;
• UK nationals who were born in and have spent the greater part of their life in the UK;
• UK nationals returning from employment or study outside the EEA or Switzerland;
• nationals of EEA countries (Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) who have been granted permanent residence in the UK, and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;
• nationals and family members of nationals of
  other EU member states, and Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, who have migrant worker or self-employed status in the UK;
• nationals, and family members of nationals, of other EU member states, and Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, who have frontier worker or frontier self-employed status in the UK;
• people recognised as refugees by the British Government, and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;
• people who have been granted 'exceptional leave to enter or remain'; 'humanitarian protection' or 'discretionary leave' in the UK and their husbands, wives or civil partners and children or stepchildren;
• Iraqi nationals who have been granted indefinite leave to enter the United Kingdom under the Locally Engaged Staff Assistance Schemes (Direct Entry), their husbands, wives, civil partners and children (not stepchildren);
• anyone who is under the age of 18 and has been granted temporary protection;
• anyone who is the child of a Swiss national; and
• anyone who is the child of a Turkish worker.

Students from the European Union

European Union students applying for fees and living-cost support must meet the residence conditions for UK nationals in the UK (as set out in the Immigration Act 1971).

You may qualify for support with your tuition fees if you meet all of the following conditions:

• You are an EU national, or a family member of an EU national;
• You have been ordinarily resident in a member state of the EU or elsewhere in the EEA or Switzerland for the three years immediately before the relevant date; and
• You are taking a full-time course in pre-registration nursing or midwifery leading to entry in the Register of nurses maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.