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Imperial College London to provide undergraduate scholarships of up to £4,000 per year
Immediate Use
Wednesday 21 January 2004
A new scholarship scheme recognising academic merit in the poorest students is announced today by Imperial College London.
Scholarships worth £4,000 per student per year will be offered to the poorest undergraduate students receiving the highest grades in their A-levels, to help pay the costs of living and maintenance while studying at the London-based college.
Imperial has already signalled that, if allowed, it will charge tuition fees of £3,000 for all courses, from 2006.
Imperial's scholarship scheme will run alongside the introduction of higher tuition fees, ensuring that students from the poorest backgrounds, who have the ability to excel in one of Imperial's science, technology or medical degree programmes, will be able to take up an offer to study at the College.
The College will commit one-third of its additional tuition fee income to its scholarship scheme. It estimates that by 2011 it will raise about £13.8 million annually from additional fee income.
In 2006, full £4,000 scholarships will go to all students who:
*are eligible for the government's maximum student assistance for London (full fee remission plus full London student loan, for those living away from home)
**gain three A grades at A level (or equivalent qualificati##被过滤##)
***receive and accept a firm offer from Imperial for an undergraduate course
All students who receive some fee support will receive a guaranteed scholarship, which will be determined on a sliding scale based on parental income and A-level (or equivalent) performance.
In 2003 the average entrant to Imperial had two As and a B at A-level, and about 50 per cent of entrants gained three A grades.
The College estimates that based on student forecasts about 150 students will be eligible for the full £4,000 Imperial scholarship in the first year, 2006-07, rising to 600 in 2009-10.
Sir Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College London, said:
"Our scholarship scheme will help all those who come from the poorest backgrounds whilst maintaining both quality and standards at Imperial, which is critically important. We're serious about widening access to Imperial, and we're also serious about keeping up standards.
"These scholarships build on a lot of existing measures that help students with the financial challenges of living and studying in London. We will continue to run a Student Hardship Fund for those who unexpectedly need urgent financial support during their studies.
"Last week Citigroup funded 20 bursaries worth £1,500 each for students engaged in our Pimlico Connection student-mentoring scheme. Schemes like these enable our students - the best ambassadors the College has - to encourage young people who would not normally c##被过滤##ider higher education to think about what a degree could offer them. This kind of partnership with industry and commerce, helping us to offer scholarships and bursaries, is a key focus for much of our fundraising efforts.
"In 2003 we did more than weve ever done to reach out to students from non-traditional and poor backgrounds, encouraging them to c##被过滤##ider sciences, engineering and medicine at university. We've been in every London borough - from Southwark to Islington - working with schoolchildren aged 10 years and upwards.
"We know that we can always go further and do more, and we believe that by offering these scholarships, which reward academic performance and recognise merit among the best students, we will succeed in opening doors, not closing them."
Presently, one in five, or 1,225 Imperial undergraduate students, receives full remission of the £1,125 tuition fee, and in total one-third, or 1,912 students, receive some form of remission.
The eligibility criteria and banding into income categories will be reviewed after the first year of operation. The scholarship scheme will be wholly reviewed after three year |
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