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You can get your tuition fees and other costs covered by a sponsor. Sponsorships are open to undergraduate students and postgraduate students.

Sponsors are usually an employer, government body, charity or non-governmental organisation (NGO), not a relative who's paying your costs (unless they are paying through their business).

You'll only be classified as a sponsored student if the organisation sponsoring you pays fees directly to the University – if you're receiving direct payment, you're still classed as a self-paying student. As an international sponsored student, you're not eligible for any other tuition fee discounts.

Please be aware that there are UKVI conditions that determine who the University can accept as a valid sponsor.

To be acceptable, sponsorship must be granted from one of the following:

• His Majesty’s Government
• The applicant’s/student's national government (e.g. a Govt Embassy. Local Government sponsorship is not acceptable)
• The British Council
• International organisation/company (they must have a trading presence in multiple countries)
• University or Independent School

If your fees are being covered by an organisation that does not meet one of the above conditions, you will remain a self-paying student.

How to apply for sponsorship

You can’t apply directly to us for sponsorship – instead, you'll need to arrange this with your sponsor first. For example, if the company you work for is willing to sponsor your studies, you'll need to make arrangements with them first, and your sponsor must then let us know that they're planning to pay your fees.

Your sponsor would need to provide an official company headed document outlining the fees that they would be covering. 

The document must contain the following information:

• The student’s name
• The course the student will be studying
• The name of the organisation (this will be included on our invoice)
• The address of the organisation (this will be included on our invoice)
• The email address of the sponsor’s Accounts Payable Department – this is where the invoice will be sent
• The amount the sponsor wants to contribute (specified in £GBP or a Percentage)
• The duration/ dates the sponsorship covers (e.g ‘1 year Sep 2025 – Sep 2026’, ‘all years of the course from Sep 2025’)
• Any purchase order numbers (this must be provided if the sponsor cannot pay without one and will be stated on our invoice)
• A contact email address and name of the person signing the letter or form

The completed form can be uploaded via the ‘My Finance’ – ‘Manage Sponsors’ section of your .

Alternatively, this can be emailed to us at feeenquiries@port.ac.uk if being sent directly from the sponsor.

What do I need to tell my sponsor?

There are a few things that your sponsor will need to be aware of.

Sponsored students are not eligible for discounts/scholarships as these only apply to self-paying students. Please therefore ensure the sponsor is awarding funding based on the full fee, and not a discounted value. If the discounted value is used, any remainder will be invoiced to the student. 

Sponsorship documentation can cover more than one academic year, although invoices are only raised each year of a student’s studies. 

A sponsor must pay the tuition fees in full within 30 days of the date they receive an invoice from us.  

Tuition fees are subject to annual increase, so future year fees may not be known if the course is more than one year in duration. If sponsorship documentation covers more than one year of studies, the information populated on the form must apply for the full duration. If the sponsorship contribution is subject to change each year, separate documentation should be provided for each year. 

If your sponsor can't pay invoices without a purchase order number, the official Letter of Sponsorship we receive must reference this. A student’s progress could be interrupted or withdrawn if a purchase order number has not been quoted and our invoice is returned unpaid.

If the documentation we receive is incomplete or doesn't contain enough information, we won't be able to accept it and you'll need to pay the full tuition fee amount.

What if I leave my course?

The sponsorship documentation we receive confirms your sponsor’s contractual obligation to pay fees for you for the period stated, even if you withdraw from your course or you leave your employment.

We recommend that your sponsor forms their own agreement with you to cover your obligation to them if you decide to leave the course or your employment.

If your sponsor wishes to update existing funding at any point during your studies, they should contact us at feeenquiries@port.ac.uk with the details, so we can advise further.

What if I need to update existing sponsorship?

If your sponsor wishes to update existing funding at any point during your studies, they should contact us at feeenquiries@port.ac.uk with the details, so we can advise further.