The RIBA Education Fund is a registered charity in England and Wales (charity number 1063625). It provides grants to students of architecture in the UK experiencing financial hardship.

History

It was initially established by the Architects Registration Council of the United Kingdom (ARCUK) under the Architects Registration Act of 1931, which recognised that funding was a major consideration in the education of architects. The act established a levy on annual registration fees to provide scholarships and maintenance grants to assist architecture students. As the new Architects Act 1997 did not allow for such levies on the retention fee, the decision was taken to transfer Trusteeship to the RIBA. In 1997 the Architects Registration Board (formerly ARCUK) agreed that the assets be transferred to the RIBA Education Fund.

Since its establishment in 1997, the RIBA Education Fund has provided almost £400,000 to support over 300 students of architecture in the UK.

Annual grant programme

Demand from students has increased year on year. In the 2008-09 academic year, the fund received 50 applications. The 2011-12 academic year saw a total of 154 applications from students experiencing financial hardship, the highest ever number of applications from students exeperiencing financial hardship.

In the 2011-12 academic year, just under £70,000 was awarded to 84 students enrolled in schools of architecture across the UK on the grounds of financial hardship.

Who the Fund helps

The majority of 2011-12 grant recipients were Part 2 students, with significant support also made to third-year students, as the intention is to support students in their final stages of education in order to allow them to progress towards qualification.

Each year the RIBA Education Fund aims to support applicants experiencing hardship that might curtail the fulfilment of their ambition of becoming an architect. The fund works to ensure that opportunities are given to talented students from the widest cross section of society. You can read Case Studies| from recent recipients.

Trustees

The general control and management of the charity is exercised by the Trustees of the Fund, all of whom are experienced architectural educators. The trustees are:

Andrew Beard, RIBA (chair)
David Gloster, RIBA Director of Education
Ben Stone, RIBA
Diana Leitch, RIBA
John Waldron, RIBA
Caroline Gould

The RIBA staff provide the day-to-day administration of the fund, assisting students throughout the application process and managing the charity's resources.

Annual Report 2010

For full details on the work of the RIBA Education Fund you can download the Annual Report 2010 below: