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Scholarship funding offered for female engineering students

A specialist engineering university which welcomed its first students last year has announced a £5000 scholarship for every woman joining its undergraduate Master’s programme in integrated engineering this September, as part of an effort to help improve diversity in the sector.

Elena Rodriguez-Falcon

The New Model Institute for Technology & Engineering’s ‘She / Her = Future Engineer’ scholarship aims to attract more women into the engineering profession. The Hereford based university was set up to pioneer new approaches to developing work-ready engineers.

Every student joining its Master’s Degree course in September 2022, regardless of gender or background, will receive a £2000 bursary with females and those identifying as female receiving a further £3000.

“The engineering industry has told us time and time again that there is desperate need for more diversity in the sector,” said NMITE President and CEO Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon. “NMITE has pledged to recruit a gender-equal student population, and these scholarships will enable us to attract a wider diversity of undergraduate engineers with greater gender representation.”

According to the Women’s Engineering Society, women account for only 14% of the engineering workforce in the UK and only 15% of engineering undergraduates in the UK are female.

A member of NMITE’s ‘pioneer cohort’ – the first group to enrol at the university last September – encouraged women interested in engineering to take up the scholarship opportunity. Natasha Tait said: “I switched to NMITE after beginning my engineering degree at a different university which wasn’t right for me. Moving university was a tough decision to make and I was concerned about finances, but I realised that NMITE was really the place I wanted to be. My experience so far has exceeded my expectations and I am excited to come in every day and learn.”

She added: “The scholarship funding will alleviate some of the worries about paying for higher education, as it did for me. I think any woman who wants to see a change in the world can find their chance to make that change at NMITE, so I encourage them to make the most of this opportunity.”

NMITE offers a number of other financial support options for future applicants, including means-tested bursaries and employer-funded scholarships which will be announced soon.

More information about scholarships and bursaries offered by the university can be found at https://nmite.ac.uk/bursary