Accommodation brand, Uniplaces, offers scholarship to students for the chance to have their rent fully paid - for an entire semester

Entrants into The Uniplaces Scholarship programme are required to help an international student in their city to win

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At a time when London is in the grip of a housing crisis, as rent prices fast-approach an all-time high across the UK, no student in their right mind would turn down the chance to have their rent paid for them – in full – for an entire semester.

Sound too good to be true?

That’s exactly what one accommodation brand is offering to every student as part of a global scholarship initiative to empower student mobility across the world.

Uniplaces, an online platform for booking student accommodation with thousands of verified properties, has vowed to fully fund the accommodation costs for ten specially-selected students for an entire semester – if they help an international student in their city.

The challenge asks entrants to track-down an international student on their campus and do something fun or quirky with them: anything from helping them with paperwork to taking them out for dinner or showing them the city’s best spots. “It is a blank canvas,” says the company.

Criterion for winning The Uniplaces Scholarship requires authentic video, photographic, or written applications to be uploaded onto the scholarship’s website before the deadline of 30 September.

How will you compete with the most popular entries so far? (via scholarship.uniplaces.com) ((scholarship.uniplaces.com))

The ten winners will then be chosen by a panel which will include members of high-profile international higher education organisations, Erasmus Student Network, and Compostela Group of Universities – a non-profit association that brings together 67 universities from across the globe.

Co-founder of Uniplaces, Ben Grech, described how the scholarship is committed to breaking-down social and geographical barriers for students.

He added: “It’s a simple mechanic that will foster positive interaction between local and international students, encouraging them, and making campuses more accepting and welcoming.”

Jean Pierre Roose, a member of the jury representing the multinational Compostela Group of Universities said international mobility is an essential tool for higher education.

He added: “It provides students with a complete training in a multicultural environment. In this way, students acquire the necessary skills for life and work.

“The truth is this: ten of the people reading this will have this unique opportunity to live the student’s dream: a whole semester with one less thing to worry about, or pay for.

“That’s what The Uniplaces Scholarship is offering to all the students of the world right now.”