The First 500 Scholarship at University of Kent, UK

Scholarship value

One scholarship worth £2,000 per annum (or pro-rata for part-time students) for the duration of the recipient’s degree programme

Deadline

31 October 2020, 23:59 GMT

Criteria

• One scholarship is available each year
• Both full-time and part-time students are eligible to apply
• Home, EU, and Overseas students are eligible to apply

To be eligible to apply for the scholarship, applicants must:

• Have attained AAB from three A Levels or equivalent (i.e. 136 points or higher)
• Be entering Stage 1 of their undergraduate degree in September 2020
• Have made their application to the University of Kent via UCAS
• Have made a firm acceptance to study at Kent by 31 August 2020

Applicants not eligible to apply for the scholarship are those:

• Who have attained the required qualifications for the Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence: https://www.kent.ac.uk/scholarships/search/FNADACEX2101
• Are in receipt of need-based financial aid.
• Are current students at The University of Kent

The scholarship will not be paid during a Year Abroad or a Year in Industry placement.

Further details

The University of Kent undergraduate Colleges were named after men who achieved great success in their chosen fields, but not all had a smooth passage to fame. Although Keynes went to Eton and obtained a First at Kings College Cambridge, Eliot suffered from medical problems and, in his first attempt, obtained only a pass degree. Rutherford was the second choice for the Exhibition Research Scholarship which set him on the path to become the father of nuclear physics, and Darwin failed to complete his studies to become a doctor and – later – a pastor, before becoming the world’s most famous botanist.

The lesson: even those we now know as the greatest in their field did not always have a smooth or obvious path to fulfil their capabilities. Indeed we, the undergraduates who helped found the University in 1965, were chosen against a wide range of criteria, often not including high A-Level results; what was identified in us was the capability to develop both ourselves and the new University.

This is why we, the undergraduates who helped found the University, have established the First 500 Scholarship to assist those whose full potential has yet to develop or whose talents are not recognised by current assessment methods. Should you choose to apply we, your predecessors of 1965, wish you every success in your application and future studies.

How to apply

Applicants must:

1.  Meet the criteria as shown above.

2.  Write an essay of 750-1,000 words on the following:

“When the first students arrived at the new University of Kent at Canterbury (as the University was then known) in 1965, there were no societies, no sports clubs, and no student representation.  In 2018, 20,000 students enjoy 67 sports clubs, 189 societies, and there are over 400 student representatives.

Kent’s first students had the opportunity – and the responsibility – to start all of these from scratch.  If we were opening a new university in 2020 and you were in that first student intake, what would you start and why?”

3.  Save the essay as a Word document.  At the top of the document, please include:

• The essay title
• Your full name
• Your University of Kent identification number

And email the document to First500@kent.ac.uk

By the deadline of 23:59 GMT on Saturday 31 October 2020.

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