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Needy students to get financial help

ABU DHABI - To bridge the financial gap that keeps outstanding students away from pursuing their higher education in the country, the Abu Dhabi University (ADU) has launched a charity programme called ‘Sanabel’ under which the university will provide financial support to needy students.

The humanitarian programme is launched under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of ADU’s Board of Trustees with the aim of collecting financial donations for students, who cannot afford tuition fees.

A designated committee has been set up to oversee fair allocation of grants and conduct comprehensive research into student cases according to their qualifications without any regard to their ethnic origin, nationality, race, colour or disability.

Then the cases are to be classified for correct decisions, based on eligibility. Priority is based on academic excellence and social conditions where students with higher high school (or equivalent) grades are given priority.

‘Sanabel’ programme offers two options for parties interested to donate - the first is the ‘Hasad’ programme where the donator becomes the complete sponsor of the student’s expenses including tuition, books, registration, etc; the second is the ‘Qotoof’ Fund where the donator can donate any amount into the fund, which will then be allocated upon comprehensive research by a specialised committee into the student cases. The fund will be allocated to students with high academic record and limited income and the grant can reach as much as 50 per cent of tuition fees.

The ADU, has contributed Dh1.5 million to the ‘Qotoof Fund’ as an initial cornerstone to turn this charitable programme into a reality, in addition to contributions from philanthropists and benevolent businessmen.

On another level, the university is also offering a number of academic scholarship programmes, including ‘Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Scholarship’, which is granted to the top 10 students from local high schools and is a complete scholarship for the entire university education. This programme includes tuition fees as well as books and transportation expenses.

Another programme, is the ‘University President Scholarship’ for outstanding students scoring 95 per cent or more throughout their last two years in high school. The scholarship covers up to 100 per cent of tuition fees.

The ‘University Academic Scholarship’ goes to students with scores of 90 per cent or above and offers them a discount that reaches 30 per cent of tuition fees.

There is also a ‘Sports Scholarship programme’ for athletes, covering up to 25 per cent of the tuition fees. In addition to the scholarships, there is also the family support programme, which is granted to families with more than one student registered at the ADU for the same period.