The Japanese disability scholarship, which was created and supported by CRCC Asia, the British Council and student travel company StudentUniverse, will provide a student with a one-month internship in the British Council’s Tokyo office, with accommodation, flights and expenses covered.

Speaking with The PIE News, Shaun Butcher, UK university partnerships manager at CRCC Asia, said the new scholarship aimed to extend outbound mobility opportunities to those who previously had limited access.

“Over time [the] wider society will come to regard seeing disabled people in all areas of life completely normal”

“There is a lot of discussion at the moment about the importance of widening participation in outward mobility and Universities UK Intentional are doing tremendous things in this area, especially with their Stand Out Campaign.”

“The research UUKi have produced clearly shows the benefits of international mobility are much more impactful for those from widening participation backgrounds, and so it is extremely important to focus attention on students that may not otherwise be able to have such experiences.”

Butcher added CRCC Asia chose to create a scholarship for Japan to dovetail with its expansion into the country through its internship programs, and the addition joins one already offered to intern in Chinese British Council offices.

“The magnifying effects of this one scholarship are great: beneficiaries continue to talk about their experience and what it has meant to them,” he said on the positive results the program had seen already.

“The benefits of international mobility are much more impactful for those from widening participation backgrounds”

During a seminar on the impact of disability on applying for jobs, previous Chinese scholarship winner Jasmine Rahman said increasing access to internships had a two-way positive effect.

“Giving more disabled people the opportunity to do internships means that, over time, wider society will come to regard seeing disabled people in all areas of life completely normal,” she said.

Applications for CRCC’s disability scholarships will close 30 August. A third scholarship to intern in South Korea is planned for 2019.

CRCC Asia is a finalist in the 2018 PIEoneer awards. More information and tickets are available here.