Students from the North Belfast area will be able to benefit from financial support to help them with the cost of second year studies at Queen’s University.
This has been made possible courtesy of the Belfast Charitable Society and the Barbour Fund, through the University’s Pathway Opportunity Programme and the partnership created by the Charitable Society and the Hilden District Nursing Society.
£1,000 bursaries are given to students.
Both societies have a long and successful history of caring for older people, working to improve the lives of those who are less fortunate and, in some instances, providing and facilitating education and training for that purpose.
David Watters, Chairman of the Belfast Charitable Society said finance is a major barrier to education for most.
“It can be an ongoing headache that can be the deciding factor for a young person in whether they should to go to university and whether it’s worth staying there. We are very fortunate in that we have the Barbour Fund, which was set up to help the people that need it most.
“The Queen’s University Widening Participation Programme is one such vehicle and we are only too delighted to be able to help those students who are less fortunate than others, who don’t’ have the opportunity but the ability to have a higher education,” he added.
The Pathway Opportunity Programme is one of a series of Widening Participation measures undertaken at Queen’s University to ensure that those ‘most able but less likely’ get the chance to continue to higher education.
Speaking in receipt of the funding, Queen’s Outreach and Learning Development Manager Paula Moran, thanked the Belfast Charitable Society and the Barbour Fund for helping them to provide opportunities.
“Widening Participation is of course very important to the university but it’s even more important to the students who get the opportunity to study in higher education thanks to this programme and the philanthropic gifts which fund it,” she added.
Mr Watters added that it is important to recognise that education plays a big part in the ability to change people’s lives.
“This small gift will go some way in ensuring that those who do not have the financial wherewithal will be able to assist in their higher education,” he added.