€2k bursaries for university students who lost grant

University College Cork is to offer €2,000 bursaries to postgraduate students who may have lost funding following changes to the student grant scheme announced in the budget.

UCC said it would not limit the number of awards because supplying suitably qualified graduates was one of its actions to support the Government’s action plan for jobs.

There has been a substantial increase in the number of postgraduate students in Ireland in recent years.

However, it is feared that the budget changes may result in a fall-off in the numbers.

“We know the removal of the Government grant will have caused some problems for students and we hope this measure alleviates the financial difficulties,” said UCC president Dr Michael Murphy.

“We think it is very important to support our students at this time, as well-qualified postgraduate students will be an important part of Ireland’s economic.”

The bursaries are designed to ensure that students who had been in receipt of a local authority grant, and who are now ineligible as a result of the changes in the grant scheme, are not disadvantaged. To be eligible, the student must have qualified for local authority, VEC, or Department of Education grants in the final year of their bachelor’s degree.

The bursaries are not limited to UCC graduates and are open to students from any Irish higher education institution who graduated since 2009 and who will be a full-time taught postgraduate programme in UCC in Sept 2012.

Last year, 3,691 postgraduate students registered to study on one of the 200 taught and research programmes across UCC’s four colleges, undertaking studies ranging from higher diplomas to doctoral research.

Meanwhile, some of UCC’s top 1,200 doctoral students are set to demystify their research at a special public event tomorrow.

The UCC doctoral showcase will see finalists presenting a “three-minute thesis”, or using music, drama, film, or puppetry to explain their PhD research and give a flavour of the range of research they are doing.

Among the topics to be discussed are the effects of drinking while pregnant, tackling cancer using marine life, and the experience of Filipino migrants in Cork.

The event, which is open to the public, takes place in Devere Hall from noon to 6pm tomorrow.

* Full details of the bursary scheme are available at www.ucc.ie/en/financeoffice/fees