Chris Lyttle MLA said: “This is a very welcome scheme and I encourage students from low-income backgrounds to apply for this assistance. This scheme will provide real help to students and it is particularly positive that some of these scholarships will encourage people to take up STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) courses, as we need to see more people enrolling in this area. The STEM subjects are vitally important to the research and development sector which could help boost our economy greatly. These subjects are also important for construction sector and to enable us to make the most of the potential we have on the green economy.
“I welcome the university’s efforts to widen access to higher education but more to be done more broadly in the sphere of higher education to reward success and attract more students from low-income backgrounds into undergraduate courses.
“We need to ensure that the best students can avail of all the opportunities open to them and assistance for people from low-income backgrounds is vitally important.”
ENDS