The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society Scholarship Award

Posted 30 March 2011

Students at Harper Adams have been hearing about the benefits of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society Scholarship from committee members and last year’s scholar.

The scholarship, sponsored by Waitrose, gives the chosen candidate a £3,000 grant per year of study as well as other perks.

To apply for the scholarship, a candidates parents must have been resident in Wales for five years, and the student must have taken a diploma or foundation degree at an agricultural college in England, Scotland or Wales and want to progress to degree level at a UK land-based University.

Prospective candidates heard from Cyril Davies last week about the scholarship. Mr Davies is on the board of the Royal Welsh and chair of the interview panel. And he explained the objectives of the scholarship and who could apply.

He said: “The Royal Welsh has a scholarship because there is an objective to have an educational role to support young people coming into agriculture to develop potential through academic achievement and to help them make a more effective contribution to the agricultural industry.

“When we interview candidates we look at personality, character and leadership qualities.”
Last year’s chosen scholar was 22-year-old Sam Carey from Cardigan in Pembrokeshire. He said he really benefitted from the scholarship with financial gain and work experience with the sponsors - Waitrose.

He said: “You can make a lot of connections within the industry with this scholarship. I think students can become quite distant from a working life and this can offer a valuable link to the industry, not just with Waitrose but with the supply chain as well.

“One of the great aspects was the work experience and it’s all valuable. Even if you don’t know exactly what you want to do yet it’s worth a go- it helped me to decide what I want to go on to do after my degree.”

The deadline for applications is April 15 and interviews will be held later this summer.