Friday, 26 September 2014

Hampshire students win top engineering scholarship

Two students from Hampshire have been named among the UK’s brightest young engineers after winning prestigious scholarships from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Sebastian McCue, 18, from Southsea, who attended The Portsmouth Grammar School, has won the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Undergraduate Scholarship which will contribute £2,000 per year towards his Engineering degree at the University of Bath.

And Marcel Welsh, 18, from Waterlooville, who attended Alton College, has been awarded the Institution’s Eaton Undergraduate Scholarship which will also contribute £2,000 per year towards his Engineering degree at the University of Cambridge.

The awards were presented to 16 of the top engineering students in the UK at a ceremony at the Institution’s headquarters in London on Wednesday 24 September.

Group commander Mark Hunt, President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said. ‘Sebastian and Marcel have proven themselves to be among the best young engineers in the UK and I was delighted to present them with these awards.

‘At a time when the UK is facing a huge skills gap when it comes to young engineers, it’s fantastic to see young people taking their first steps in the profession.

‘Engineers are vitally important to the UK economy. They design and develop everything from the cars we drive to the medical equipment used in our hospitals.

‘I am confident that Sebastian and Marcel will enjoy successful and exciting careers in engineering.’

In 1944 James Clayton of Torquay, formerly chief engineer at Messrs Courtaulds Ltd., left a considerable sum of money to the Institution for the purpose of encouraging mechanical engineering science. It is from this bequest that the James Clayton Awards, James Clayton Undergraduate Scholarships and other General Institution prizes and awards are derived.