University of Salford has ‘best support’ for students estranged from their family

The university is one of only seven in England to be recognised with this award for their outstanding support for estranged students.

Estranged students are young people who don’t have the support of their family network. This can be for a variety of reasons, including issues linked to honour-based violence, forced marriage and family rejection of LGBTQI+ and transgender students. 

Over 20% of estranged students at university have experienced homelessness before university. Salford has the seventh highest number of estranged students of any institution in England & Wales. 

The Stand Alone Pledge invites universities to pledge to support their estranged students in four areas – outreach, finances, accommodation and emotional wellbeing. 

The University of Salford was one of the first institutions to sign up to the pledge in 2016. 

The university now offers enhanced support for estranged students, including accommodation for 52 weeks a year for the length of the course (to ensure those students who cannot stay with family still have a place to call home outside of term time), as well as guarantors, bursaries and ringfenced support for hardship and homelessness for estranged students.

In 2018, the university won an award for the best emotional support for estranged students. This recognised the achievements of the student-led group PAUSE (People at University Separated or Estranged).

Arron Pile, Student Inclusion & Diversity Manager at the University of Salford, said: “I am so proud to receive this award from Stand Alone for the support for estranged students we have at Salford. 

“Sometimes we forget that not all students at university have a supportive family around them, and it is hard to imagine what that would be like. Many have gone through traumatic experiences and/or may have been homeless or sofa surfing before starting university. Giving estranged students a platform and a voice is so important.

"Here at Salford we have a dedicated Estranged Student Support Team in askUS and we are still pushing the boundaries to ensure our support is the best, which is the reason why we have won this award."

Any students who want any support with estrangement can contact the team at StudentDiversity@salford.ac.uk or visit our askUS web pages.