Syrian teen who studied as bombs fell is off to Cambridge
STRUGGLING to study chemistry on a mobile phone screen while bombs fell outside his home, Abdullah Kattineh’s academic ambitions seemed like a distant dream.
But the Syrian teenager’s dreams are now a reality after he won a place at Cambridge University to read natural sciences – along with funding to pay for it.
The 19-year-old, who studied on a phone screen because his family could not afford to buy him books, had been turned down for a scholarship to take up his place at Corpus Christi College.
But after he set up a crowdfunding page, students began a petition calling on the university to support him. Amid growing pressure, the funding body has now agreed to cover the £150,000 Abdullah will need to pay for tuition, college fees and maintenance costs over the three-year course.
Abdullah, who starts his course in October, said: ‘I can’t by any language express what this chance means to me. Most of us were paralysed by the Syrian crisis. From an extreme devaluation of the currency
‘Had to overcome tremendous obstacles’
accompanied by the difficulty to afford the costs of living, to the possibility of losing your best friend or family member at any moment. I’ve always been a dreamer and those circumstances made me even more determined to achieve my dreams.’
Syria has been in turmoil since a civil war began in Damascus, Abdullah’s home town, in 2011. But his talent shone even during the upheaval – winning a bronze medal for Syria in the International Chemistry Olympiad in the summer of 2016.
After travelling to Cambridge in January for interviews, the teenager was offered a place. But his application for the Cambridge Trust Scholarship, which provides funding for students in financial need, was rejected.
Within hours of setting up an online appeal for funding, he had received pledges of £800 from students, and 450 people had signed an open letter calling on the university to support him.
The student union’s access and finance officer, Olivia Hylton-Pennant, said it was ‘shameful’ that Abdullah was having to fundraise in a letter to Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Education Graham Virgo. The Cambridge Trust then offered to pay in full the annual £29,217 university tuition fees, £8,715 college fees and £10,310 maintenance costs.
Dr Michael Sutherland, tutor at Corpus Christi, said Abdullah had overcome ‘tremendous obstacles’ to secure his place at the college.