Partnership delivers golden opportunity for students with disability

Students living with disability will have a further incentive to study at the University of Adelaide when applications open for the Dylan Alcott Foundation (DAF) scholarship this week.

In a new partnership, the Dylan Alcott Foundation is funding up to $10,000 a year fee-reduction which will be matched by the University with an annual $5000 stipend.

The Foundation was established with the goal to remove barriers for young people living with disability.

Across his successful career in sport, its founder, Dylan Alcott won four Paralympic gold medals and Tennis’s Golden Slam in 2022.

In the same year he was awarded the nation’s highest honour the Medal of Order of Australia (AO) and named Australian of the Year.

Alcott says those successes are not something he could have imagined when he was in his teens.

“It has taken me many years to feel OK about myself and to feel worthy,” he says.

“Part of that journey has been to set and achieve my goals, and the rationale for this scholarship is to support other young people to reach theirs.”Dylan Alcott

He says the Foundation was set up to help young Australians living with a disability achieve their dreams, and for many that dream is further education and a degree qualification.

“The university experience has a lot to offer, not simply the study and qualification, but being part of a community, meeting new people, having all that social engagement, sharing your experiences and testing your own ideas and thoughts in a broader context,” he says.

“This scholarship will go a long way to sustaining a student while they are at uni, and the Dylan Alcott Foundation is so delighted to be partnering with the University to make the scholarship happen.”

The University of Adelaide is the latest in Australia to offer the scholarship which is available to students 26 years old and under.

University of Adelaide Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Professor Jennie Shaw says the scholarship is the result of an important new partnership with the Dylan Alcott Foundation.

“The Foundation established by Dylan and his family is doing fantastic work around the country to broaden perceptions about people living with a disability, encourage partnerships and sponsorships, and to make change happen through action,” Professor Shaw says.

“We are delighted to support Dylan’s passion to create a more inclusive world and look forward to welcoming our first scholarship winner to the University.”