Britainís young engineers are missing out on a chance to join one of the professionís most prestigious societies ñ and net themselves thousands of pounds to boot.
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) has just extended its deadline to encourage more bright young engineers in apprenticeships and degree-level study to enter the Whitworth Scholarship Awards. If successful, they win an Award worth 3,500 per annum to help towards the cost of their degree.
Applicants had until May 31 to enter but now have until the end of June to apply. Reasons for why fewer engineers are applying are not certain but are likely to be linked to spiralling costs for degree studies and fewer young people opting to choose engineering as a career.
Geoff Ward, Chairman of the Whitworth Awards Panel, said: ìWe donít really know why we have not got as many applicants this year. One reason may be that there are fewer and fewer engineering apprenticeships around, or it may be linked to the Government trying to encourage young people to stay on at school, post 16 education, so that would mean fewer people are entering these apprenticeships.
ìBut for those applicants that do succeed they have the honour of joining the Whitworth Society, which is one of the most prestigious established engineering societies, and the doors that can open for them are endless. It would be well worth their while to apply.î
Whitworth Scholarship Awards are granted to outstanding young engineers who are planning to embark/or have already commenced on an engineering degree-level programme.
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To apply, applicants mustÖ
- be under the age of 31 on September 1st
- have pursued a vocational route in an engineering discipline for at least two years, after having left full-time education and before entering a degree-level engineering course
- have obtained/or will obtain an appropriate qualification for admission onto the planned engineering degree-level programme.
- be British Commonwealth or European Union Citizens, normally resident in the United Kingdom.
Whitworth Scholarship Awards are also offered to students who meet the above conditions and:
are already on an engineering degree-level programme, or are engineering graduates who plan to continue in research or other approved postgraduate study.
Graduates must have had two yearsí industrial experience before commencing their undergraduate degree-level programme.
Britains young engineers missing out on scholarships
Britainís young engineers are missing out on a chance to join one of the professionís most prestigious societies ñ and net themselves thousands of pounds to boot.
