The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced a remarkable donation of £1 million from the Sandys Trust to establish an endowment to support architectural education.
The endowment will provide Sandys Bursaries to students in financial need who are undertaking postgraduate study.
The Sandys Trust shares RIBA’s vision of making architecture inclusive and accessible to all, and this donation will aim to ensure students from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds can pursue their studies.
The new Sandys Bursaries will be awarded through the RIBA Part 2 Bursaries scheme which provides long-term financial support to architecture students who demonstrate talent, commitment to their studies and financial need. These bursaries have an incredibly positive impact on students’ lives.
Supporting education is a key objective of The Sandys Trust which was established with funds from the estate of the late Lord and Lady Sandys.
Caroline Clarke (née Mauduit), trustee of the Sandys Trust, said: “We are delighted to make this grant to RIBA, in honour of my aunt and uncle, to support talented students who might otherwise struggle to find funds. As an architect myself, I can well remember the long hours of study and appreciate the financial pressures facing students today. Through these Sandys bursaries, we hope to foster excellence, imagination and vision in architecture.”
RIBA Chair of Trustees, Jack Pringle said: “As we embark on our House of Architecture project, this is an extraordinary investment in our blueprint for the future of architecture, and we are enormously grateful to the trustees of the Sandys Trust for this transformational donation. It will change the lives of so many students for generations to come and will make a major contribution towards RIBA’s goal of ensuring access to architecture is more open to a wider cohort of future architects.”
