Scottish Overseas Research Student Awards Scheme (SORSAS)
The Overseas Research Students Award Scheme (ORSAS) was originally established in
1980-81 as a UK wide competitive scheme to strengthen the UK's ability to attract "highest quality" international postgraduate research students to the UK.
With the discontinuation of the UK-wide ORSAS scheme at the end of AY 2008-09, SFC ran a rebranded Scottish Overseas Research Students Award Scheme (SORSAS) in AY 2009-10 and 2010-11 within SFC's Horizon Fund for Universities (HFU) 2010-11.
As set out in circular SFC/35/2010: Indicative main grants to colleges and universities for academic year 2011-12, published in December 2010, we have decided that SORSAS is no longer a sufficiently high strategic priority and that the grant will cease from AY 2013-14.
To enable institutions to support continuing students, we will provide reduced funding in 2011-12. We intend to reduce the grant further in AY 2012-13. Allocations to small specialist institutions have been maintained in cash terms for AY 2011-12.
SFC contact for participating Institutions only
Our institutional contact for SORSAS is: Sandhya Kapitan, tel: 0131 313 6603, email: skapitan@sfc.ac.uk).