Bursary Deadline Approaching For Belfast Met Students

Belfast City Council has reminded students on selected courses at Belfast Metropolitan College that they have little more than a week left to apply for bursaries.

The deadline for application for the City Council's £300,000 'Achieve' bursary is Friday January 31.

Funded through the council’s Investment Programme and administered by Belfast Metropolitan College, the scheme makes grants of £500 available to young people living in Belfast and studying on one of Belfast Met’s full-time further/higher or vocational training courses at Levels 2-5.

The bursary is available for a wide range of courses, including IT, multimedia, science, tourism and hospitality.

Councillor Deirdre Hargey, Chair of the Council’s Development Committee, said of the programme: "The objective of the 'Achieve' bursary is to help young people in our city to access further education and training opportunities, by helping them overcome barriers which may prevent them from undertaking training and education, or moving into employment. By helping them do this, we can improve their employment prospects at a time when it must often seem like the odds are stacked against them.

"The current economic climate means that there are fewer jobs around and this extra, much-needed funding will make it easier for young people to continue with their education or help students across different levels of ability access higher qualifications and build on their skills levels to enter employment. 'Achieve' enables young people from the most deprived backgrounds to access a range of educational opportunities that, without some financial support, they may not consider, and so has the potential to make a real and lasting change to the lives of so many young people across our city."

(IT/CD)