Vodafone Scholarship: Encouraging Engineering

Undergraduates in the Faculty of Engineering are benefiting from a new and prestigious scholarship scheme thanks to a generous donation from The Vodafone Group Foundation.

Individual engineering departments have awarded prestigious Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Scholarships to two undergraduates, one from the UK and one from overseas, on the basis of their outstanding academic merit.

The scholars are currently in their first year at Imperial, and, thanks to the scholarship scheme, both their tuition fees and maintenance will be funded for the entirety of their undergraduate studies. The students are Ms Chee Yan Shek, studying Mathematics and Computer Science, and Ms Yanyan Jiang, studying Biomedical Engineering.

"The scholarship has taken away a lot of the worry about debt whilst I'm studying, which has enabled me to focus more freely on other aspects of my course and student life in general," comments Chee Yan Shek.

"Life at Imperial is more demanding than I had initially anticipated," she continues. ", It took me a while to settle into the new environment and, and at times, trying to balance work with play was a challenge. If I hadn't been awarded the scholarship it would have been much more difficult. But I just knew I wanted to study here no matter what it took"

Working in conjunction with the College's EnVision initiative, the scholarships are not only aimed at rewarding excellence, but also at levelling the playing field for engineering study at Imperial by enabling the most talented undergraduates to attend the College regardless of means. EnVision seeks to ensure that every engineering student at Imperial College is offered the best possible education. It aims to guarantee that each Imperial engineering graduate will be armed with the knowledge, skills and aptitude required to become world class leaders in every sphere of the sector.

"Imperial College is dedicated to providing students with the opportunity to excel in an outstanding academic environment. Rewarding academic excellence helps to encourage the best and brightest students to really push themselves. Schemes like the Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Scholarships are a very successful way of rewarding the talent and hard work of the most academically gifted students," explains Professor Stephen Richardson, Principal of the Faculty of Engineering.

Imperial College and the Vodafone Group Foundation share a common ambition to contribute to the global engineering talent pool and to stimulate innovation in the sector. Through the Vodafone Group Foundation Technology Scholarships, Vodafone is making a real and tangible contribution towards these goals which will ultimately benefit the engineering sector as a whole.

"We are delighted to work with Imperial College on this fantastic initiative," says Andrew Dunnett, Director of The Vodafone Group Foundation. "Vodafone is committed to investing in the cultivation of the next generation of engineers and maximising the future scientific potential of the UK. It is imperative that institutions such as Imperial College continue to attract and reward talented students into engineering, and the Vodafone Group Foundation Scholarships are a great way of doing just that."