New for 2014: Access to the Professions bursaries

Posted 21 April 2014

Harper Adams University is launching a new scheme to give future rural professionals a financial boost as they embark on their studies. 

Twenty students starting at the university this year with receive £1,000 bursaries under the Access to the Professions programme. 

University Vice-Chancellor, Dr David Llewellyn, said: “At Harper Adams University we recognise that students can face many barriers to attending university. For some it can be disability, for others it can be challenging personal circumstances such as low household income. To help students who are looking to pursue a career in one of the professional areas of engineering, food, or rural estate and land management, we have just launched a brand new bursary scheme.

“A report published in early April by the Sector Skills Council for the land and environment sector, LANTRA, concluded that in the period 2010 to 2020 industry would need 245,000 graduates and 100,000 postgraduates and that there would be rising demand for people in skilled operations, with abilities in leadership and management, finance and even sales and marketing. 

“Harper Adams already has a strong graduate employment record, currently at 96 per cent and so it was clear that additional measures were needed to broaden the pool of talent and encourage more young people to consider a career in this sector. 

“The bursary scheme is being launched with this in mind and to ensure that access to a course at Harper Adams University, and the first step towards a professional career with great prospects, is open to all potential students." 

Students who have accepted an offer of a place on an eligible course, starting in 2014, will be invited to submit a 500-word bursary application, outlining their career aspirations and what barriers they feel a bursary would help them to overcome. 

To learn about the professions a Harper Adams degree might lead to, visit the careers website www.3point7m.com  For more information on the Access to the Professions bursary scheme, visit www.harper.ac.uk/profbursary