The University of Aberdeen has announced more than £100,000 worth of new scholarships for science students from the EU Accession States.
One hundred bursaries worth £1,000 each have been released for full time students - classed as home/EU for the purpose of tuition fees - beginning a BSc degree in September 2008. Students from Eastern European countries such as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Lithuania are all eligible to apply.
Colleagues from the University's Student Recruitment & Admissions Team, along with academics are visiting Poland over the next week as part of a science promotion trip. They will be attending the Warsaw Exhibition as well as other regional exhibitions to build on the Institution's links in Polish cities. They will also be giving guest lectures at Institutes during their visit to give an overview of the University and to try and meet with students interested in studying at Aberdeen.
The University will be attending the Perspektywy education events and holding information sessions to highlight the significant scholarships that are available to help Science students study at both undergraduate and postgraduate level for September 2008 entry at one of the oldest universities in the UK.
"We are keen to attract the brightest students to Aberdeen," said Jenny Fernandes, Head of the International Office at the University of Aberdeen. "And our experience shows students from Eastern Europe to be excellent students who work hard and make a very positive contribution to our student population. We are delighted to be able to offer these new undergraduate bursaries."
Witold Słowiński is a 4th Year student studying computing science at the University. He moved to Aberdeen from Zabrze after completing his Matura to study for an MA in Computing and gained direct entry to level 2 of the degree programme in 2005. He said: "After graduating from a British university I will have gained good qualifications and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of confidence should I choose to seek professional employment in the UK. And, I am sure that I will also be able to impress any potential Polish employer.
"However, I also made that decision because I was curious as to how it would feel to live in a foreign culture and how it would shape my person. I can honestly say that I am not disappointed!"
His advice to any students from Poland thinking about coming to study in the UK is: "Do not hesitate and do it, of course!"
The scholarship announcement comes ahead of the trip to Poland by University staff members, who will visit Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw, and Krakow in the coming week to meet with potential new students and answer any questions they may have about studying in the Granite City.
The University has also confirmed a range of innovative scholarships for home/EU students considering a postgraduate degree. The College of Life Sciences and Medicine is offering a bursary package for their masters programmes including MSc/MRes Ecology and MSc Environmental Sustainability, MSc Environmental Science, MSc Clinical Pharmacology, MSc Human Nutrition and Metabolism, and MSc Biomedical Physics.
In addition, the College of Physical Sciences continues to offer home/EU students the opportunity to take advantage of funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. This amounts to the equivalent of the postgraduate tuition fee for EU students. Courses where the CTA package applies are MSc Safety Engineering and Risk Management, MSc in Advanced Computer Science (and specialised variants), MSc eCommerce Technology, MSc in Subsea Engineering, and MSc in Energy Futures – Renewables. In addition, a new collaborative MSc in Systems Biology, a programme taught jointly between the College of Physical Sciences and Life Sciences and Medicine is also available and will be eligible for funding from the CTA.
"The University has a student population of around 14,000 and a large international community of students drawn from 120 different countries," added Mrs Fernandes. "By visiting Poland we hope to take another step towards enriching the diversity of our student body by building stronger ties with students from Eastern Europe.
"The University already has an excellent reputation for teaching quality and research, and we remain committed to helping students with their funding at both undergraduate and postgraduate level."
For further details on sources of University funding for postgraduate study visit:
Arts and Social Science: www.abdn.ac.uk/cass/graduate
Life Sciences and Medicine: www.abdn.ac.uk/clsm/graduateschool
Physical Science: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/cops/graduateschool/
The University has significant funding available to help students at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, for a range of courses. Undergraduate students from the EU do not pay any tuition fees to study in Scotland, compared to 16,000 PLN per year in England. These fees are paid for by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland. For more details visit: www.saas.gov.uk
As well as having no tuition fees, applicants from new EU accession states, such as Poland, can benefit from a range of scholarships that are available for 2008 entry.
For further information on the University of Aberdeen in general, visit: www.abdn.ac.uk/sras