This is the fifth year of the Scholarship, which is run by SSE Airtricity, Northern Ireland’s largest provider of greener energy, and this year it is supporting more students than ever before. The fund supports students living close to the company’s wind farms in Tyrone, Derry-Londonderry and Fermanagh, and provides 50% funding support towards the cost of third level fees for students commencing first year studies in STEM-associated subjects at partner colleges. Alongside the students from Ulster University, the fund also supports students at South West College and North West Regional College.
Among the students receiving the SSE Airtricity Scholarship in 2018 are students from Derry, Dungannon, Limavady, Omagh and Strabane.
To date the fund has supported the education of more than 100 students with over £350,000 worth of funding. The completion of SSEs Tievenameenta and Slieve Divena II Wind Farms means that the overall fund has increased in 2018, and support for Ulster University students will double to almost £90,000.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Mia Fahey McCarthy, Head of Sustainability at SSE Ireland, said: “We are delighted to be able to provide financial support for even more students with this year’s SSE Airtricity Scholarship. The programme has been an incredible success, with demand growing each year, and more than 100 students already benefitting from the fund.
“At SSE we are committed to bringing as much added value as possible to the local community from our wind farms, and the Scholarship is having a direct and positive impact upon the lives of these young people as they begin their studies. Hopefully the support for these 15 students, along with the rest of the 2018 recipients, will help them succeed in their ambitions for the future.”
The students with Vicky Boden, SSE, Allison Snookes, UU, and Mia Fahey McCarthy, SSE.
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