100 trees

On 4 October 2021 we celebrated our official birthday by planting a tree as a symbol of our commitment, as a University, to promoting positive change in the local and global community.

Throughout the year we planted 100 trees across our campuses to mark 100 years of change. We invited our partners, alumni and friends to support a tree, as an enduring legacy.

The trees also carried another gift, with a proportion of the donation going to our Sanctuary Scholars fund, providing essential support to University of Leicester students who are refugees or asylum seekers.

Together, 100 Trees supporters provided funding for the Sanctuary Seekers’ Unit to purchase nine laptops, which have been made available for loan to students receiving support from the Unit.

Two of the students who received a loan laptop commented:

• “This laptop is useful in many aspects, such as studying and using academic materials. Also, it has high standard of security and fast. Many thanks again.”
• “I really cannot describe how useful this laptop was because I had only my own mobile phone and I could not do anything with that. With the laptop, I can easily read e-books, do my assignments and watch a few English series too.”

Aleks Palanac, Head of Sanctuary, also commented:

• “We are very grateful for the funds that this project has raised for our sanctuary students. Access to a laptop is something which many of our sanctuary students are lacking, and this can pose a big barrier in terms of being able to access and succeed on a programme of study. For a long while we have been wanting to set up a stock of laptops that sanctuary students can borrow during the course of their studies, and which can then be passed on to others after they finish their programme and move on. Because of your generous donations, we can now realise this vision.”

We are extremely grateful to those partners, alumni and friends who supported the 100 Trees project and the Sanctuary Seekers’ Unit during our centenary year.