Three new bursaries for undergraduate students

Thanks to generous donations from a number of benefactors, the College has been able to establish three new bursaries to provide support for undergraduate students in financial need.

The Aker Solutions Alistair Peach Memorial Bursary was set up after the tragic death of Alistair Peach in September 2007. Alistair was an Engineering student at Sidney from 2005 to 2007, and in the summer of 2007 worked for Aker Solutions E&C Limited, where his father is the Deputy Director of Projects. This bursary, established by the company and the College in Alistair's memory, will provide both financial support and work experience opportunities for Engineering students. Holders of the bursaries will be able to undertake vacation placements at one of the company's offices in Stockton-on-Tees or Warrington, or one of their sites elsewhere. To date and prior to the establishment of the bursary, undergraduate students at Aker have worked in the field of nuclear reactor design and conventional power gas turbine design development. Other than the nuclear and energy sectors, Aker Solutions in the UK also serves the process, metals and water industries both in the UK and overseas: details of the type of career opportunities that exist can be found on www.engineerswithattitude.co.uk.

Members of the Thornely Society (Sidney's society for current and former Law students) continue to provide generous support to the College. Recently, the John Thornely Bursary was established to support undergraduate Law students in financial need.

A gift from Mr Iain Oldcorn (matriculated in 1961 to read Natural Sciences and Chemical Engineering) has allowed the establishment of the Oldcorn Bursary. This will provide funding for students of Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering or Chemical Engineering, who are in financial need. Priority will be given to those who previously studied at Manchester Grammar School, where Mr Oldcorn was a student.

The new bursaries are a significant addition to the range of financial support available for undergraduates at Sidney. Admissions Director Dr Kirsten Dickers said, 'The College is absolutely committed to admitting students solely on the basis of academic merit: nobody should be prevented from taking up their place by financial need. We are grateful to all our benefactors who are helping us to achieve this aim.'

This is an archived news story, first posted in 2008.