A North West Regional College (NWRC) student is celebrating after receiving a huge £20,000 bursary from global e-commerce giant Amazon.
Clare Hamilton who studied the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Information Technology at NWRC has just begun a Degree in Computer Science at Queen’s University Belfast.
The 20 year-old who was home-schooled until she joined the college in 2020 says she is thrilled to bits to have been chosen as one of 30 recipients of the award, which is only open to female students in the UK.
She said: “I.T. is a brilliant course to study and I’m so glad that I came to NWRC to study for my Level 3 BTEC. My Lecturer Violet Toland told me that the course could lead to many opportunities, especially if you are a female intending to work in a STEM area, and she was right.
“She encouraged me to apply for the bursary and I couldn’t believe it when I got the news that I had been successful. The Amazon Future Engineer Bursary Award is £20,000 towards my University Tuition Fees, accommodation, and maintenance. It’s a big help for any student.
“I’d say to any student in fifth year now to think about doing an I.T. course at NWRC instead of going to sixth form. There are so many good career options ahead of you including programming, web development, and project management. I really enjoyed studying I.T. at NWRC – during my time there I also received a NavComm Scholarship and was awarded a Best in Further Education award.”
Violet Toland, Higher Education Curriculum Lead and Lecturer in Computing at NWRC said: “Clare’s bursary from Amazon is fantastic news and is a great affirmation of the life changes that can happen studying computing courses at our college. I am just so delighted for this young woman who has worked so hard to achieve outstanding results during her time with us at NWRC. This is what we do every day at NWRC, help to change lives and encourage our young people so they can go on to fantastic careers in the technology industry both on a local level and globally”.
The Amazon Future Engineer bursary is a national bursary programme aimed at supporting women A-level and BTEC/OCR(or Scottish equivalent) students who wish to study computer science or related engineering courses at UK universities.
The award, open to female students, is worth up to £5,000 a year for up to four years and recipients will also receive support from Amazon mentors during their studies as they prepare to get on the career ladder.
Limited places remain on a number of Level 3 courses at NWRC – students can apply at www.nwrc.ac.uk/apply
This is what we do every day at NWRC, help to change lives and encourage our young people so they can go on to fantastic careers in the technology industry both on a local level and globally
Violet TolandHigher Education Curriculum Lead and Lecturer in Computing at NWRC
