We welcome applications from disabled international students and we encourage you to declare your disability and your support needs as soon as possible. Telling us about your disability will not affect your selection as a student, but will enable us to assess your needs and inform you as to what extent we can meet your requirements.
In order to help put the right support in place for you, the Student Support team may need to discuss your disability-related requirements with other people and organisations. If you do not wish Student Support to disclose your disability-related information, you must inform them of this immediately. See contact details below.
The college does not provide support with daily living tasks, therefore you will need to think carefully about any non-academic, disability-related support requirements you may have, for example, assistance with shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry or personal care. The college may be able to give information about agencies which provide care assistants, but you need to be aware that you will probably have to meet the costs of this type of support yourself, as this is non-academic support and government welfare benefits are not available to international students.
Support with day to day living can be very expensive, so this is an extra cost for which you must budget. You are advised to discuss this in-depth with your sponsors and with the Student Support Team prior to your application, as this type of support needs to be planned and resourced well in advance.
Please note that whilst disabled UK students are eligible for grants and benefits from the UK government towards their disability-related costs, these grants are NOT available to disabled international students*. You are therefore advised that you need to identify sufficient funding for your disability-related support prior to coming to the college.
*EU students who have been resident in the UK for five years, and international students with indefinite leave to remain in the UK, are advised to check the eligibility criteria for UK Disabled Students Allowances (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/eu-students).
If an EU student has a UK residency or UK settled status, they would be eligible for Disability Support Allowance.
The British Council has further information on support available for international students, please click here.
There is a network of accessible routes around the campus. The majority of buildings, including all key academic and support service providers, are accessible to wheelchair users. If there is any teaching space that is not accessible, flexible timetabling is used to ensure that lectures and classes are held in alternative accessible venues. The reception area and the lecture theatre have induction loops fitted for hearing impaired students, and portable loops are available for use in other areas within the college.
For information on the support available and if you have any specific access requirements, please contact Student Support on +44 (0)1752 203423 or email studentsupport@pca.ac.uk.
If you require a copy of this information in an alternative format, please contact us.
