Thanks to the generosity of a Sussex alumnus, the University is able to offer this scholarship to two British students pursuing a full-time Master's degree in the Department of Business and Management at BMEc.

The value of the scholarship is £5,000 which can be used towards living costs or fees. Students who hold this scholarship may also hold another University of Sussex scholarship. If you receive an additional University fee waiver, the total amount of the combined fee waivers cannot exceed the total amount of the tuition fee.

The Bunting Scholarship was set up by Stephen Bunting in honour of his parents, Brian and Sonia Bunting, as a tribute to their active work in the South African political scene prior to eventual political change in 1991. Sonia Bunting was tried for treason together with many others including Nelson Mandela in the 1950s. She was also the Chairman of the World Campaign for the release of South African political prisoners, which became very influential in avoiding the death sentence for Mandela. Brian was the editor of various underground newspapers which had been critical in terms of mobilisation and organisation of political activity in South Africa. Both were imprisoned and later sentenced to house arrest for five years.

They left having served 18 months of their sentence and were allowed to go to the UK as political refugees, but were not allowed back to South Africa until 1991 following constitutional change, when Mandela was released. They went back to South Africa almost immediately and Brian served as a member of parliament in Mandela's government which was elected in 1994. Brian was 74 at the time of his appointment. They were politically active for most of their lives. They were both very special people with huge integrity and courage and were also wonderful parents.

The original intention of the scholarship was to set it up for the benefit of South African students. The ideal was to provide training in a subject that would allow them to go back to South Africa and implement some of the knowledge the student had obtained during their masters course. As a Sussex Alumnus, Stephen Bunting focussed on the University of Sussex and decided that a training in business and management was the most efficient method of transferring skills and know-how from a 1 year Masters course, which led to the Bunting Scholarship for the School of Business, Management and Economics (BMEc). In addition, more recently, Stephen kindly broadened the focus of the scholarship to support two UK BMEc students with smaller grants to help cover the cost of the University fees or towards maintenace costs.