November 2014
Dear applicant,
Invitation to apply for Scholarship in Civil Engineering linked to Programmes starting in October 2015
Applications to join the University of Surrey-ICE-Industry Scholarship scheme are invited from students applying for 2015 entry to our MEng and BEng Civil Engineering degree programmes. The closing date for applications is Monday 16th March 2015.
The official opening date for receipt of applications is Monday 1st December 2014, but if you want to submit earlier you can contact me directly using the contact details above.
We believe that you will be in a better position to complete the application after you have attended our Applicant Open Day, although we acknowledge that this will not be possible for all applicants. We also see Christmas as a good time to prepare the application. If you have not attended an Applicant day, you may need to read more on the Scheme using our website at www.surrey.ac.uk/cce/study/ug/civil/ICE_scholarship. This link also takes you to the application form.
Yours faithfully
Dr Juan Sagaseta
PhD DIC CEng MICE MCICCP EurIng
(UniS/ICE Scholarship coordinator)
Application steps:
Application can be made by simply submitting your application form to by the 11th of March 2015.
If your application is pre-selected in March, you will receive an invitation for the interview day in Central London on April 2015. For the interview day, you will need to send us one week before the event a short report (2 pages) on a civil engineering project. On the day you will need to bring a poster on your aspirations in Civil Engineering (see more information at the end of this letter).
The application process is summarized in the following diagram:
General description of the Scheme:
The Scheme offers tremendous financial and training rewards to the many successful students. It is principally for UK students who will graduate into the UK civil engineering industry; however, as the work of a number of our sponsors is international, wider opportunities may occasionally become available - overseas students are therefore advised to contact me first before applying.
The Scholarship is targeted to support students who have a clear and demonstrable interest in civil engineering, are already preparing for a long term career in this industry and appreciate the benefit gained from the integrated training, which combines academic studies with industrial experience.
The application process has been planned to help such students develop and show their enthusiasm for civil engineering; in the early stages it will challenge them to seek the knowledge that will enable them to speak confidently on their ambitions, when interviewed by civil engineering professionals later in the application process.
If you have the appropriate skills and enthusiasm we look forward to hearing from you. The initial application should not take long time
The application does require time, planning and effort but the rewards are high as is the success rate for genuine applications. Our peak intake was previously 30 students but in recent years, with recession affecting our industry, we have averaged over 20 scholarships and hope to offer a similar number this year. This would indicate about a 1 in 4 success rate related to applications; however in 2011 nearly a third of applications failed because they were incomplete, lacked detail or the students were ineligible for the Scheme. To help, I include more background on the scholarship and the application process, along with a timetable of key dates up to and including the first scholarship commitment for successful applicants.
Please note that this Spring Application process is the route for all students hoping to enter Year 1 of our programme in October 2015. We do hold supplementary interviews later in the year but these are for Year 2 students and Year 1 students who have a genuine reason for not applying earlier. Students hoping to take a gap year or applying for our Foundation course should contact me regarding the appropriate time to apply for scholarship.
I very much look forward to receiving your application and hope you can be successful. If you need any help please send us an email to or myself .
Additional Scholarship Information
The Scholarship Scheme is now in its fifteenth year having grown rapidly in the first decade. By 2008:
· Our annual recruitment exceeded 30 for the first time.
· The total number of our scholars on our programmes that year passed 100
· The number of sponsoring companies rose to 27.
· Bursary payments had risen to £3000 p.a. as a result of additional government based funding.
More recently both government funding and the Civil Engineering industry have been hard hit by the Recession. We, along with all others in Civil Engineering, have lost the Inspire top up support.
The industry has however, kept faith in the scheme, recognising the quality of graduates trained through the programme and the benefits of the training programme itself. They still sponsor over 20 new scholars a year from Surrey but competition is tougher. They are now looking for very special students, who will benefit from the support to academic studies offered through an industry based, integrated and exceptional training programme and who, as a result, will quickly make their mark in the industry upon graduation. The Scheme does not impose commitment on students after graduation. Scholars are expected to graduate to their sponsors as a consequence of the mutual trust and benefit to both parties developed through the scholarship training. To achieve this, considerable care and effort is put into the Matching process and safeguards are available should a student change focus within the programme. It is in this area that the Scheme has been very successful and thereby has maintained industry support.
In annual targets are
· To maintain an annual intake between 20 and 25 students a year
· To keep the total Scholarship numbers for that year over 100
· To hold the annual bursary paid by the companies at £1650 p.a.
· To give MEng students the opportunity to earn £25,000+ through the Scheme and BEng students £20,000 due to the shorter course length.
All scholars must undertake the professional training year, but do not worry if you have not applied for one of these programmes; if you are successful with your application, your programme will be changed when you accept the Scholarship.
Application Details
Applications are sought for admission to the Scholarship in 2015/16. The Closing date for electronic submission of applications has now been fixed as Monday 16th March 2015.
Once you have submitted you application form electronically, you should be thinking about ideas for you poster and Civil Engineering project report in case you are pre-selected for interview. Pre-selected applicants will be informed by 23rd March and invited to interview at the Headquarters of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London on Friday 10th April (provisional date). For the interview day, you will be required to send us a 2 page report on a Civil Engineering project one week before the event. On the day, please bring a A3 poster on your ambitions in Civil Engineering to present to small groups with other candidates, members of staff and guests (3 min presentation).
During the interview day our industrial partners will help us to select very good candidates, who will be eligible for Scholarship when they enter the Surrey Civil Engineering programme in October 2015. Notification of offers will be made in the week following interview. Please note that although the applicants are interviewed by company personnel they are not matched with companies at this time. Matching will take place early in 2016 as explained below. By carefully balancing offers to industry needs, it is our expectation that all students who join our programmes, following success at the April interviews, should be matched.
A few good candidates may be placed on a reserve list following the April interviews. We want to find them Scholarships, but they will only be taken forward for Matching if sufficient and appropriate Scholarship places are confirmed nearer the date. The reserve list is our safety net but to date all reserve list students have attended the Matching process
Students who submit a successful application form, but cannot attend the interview day for good reason, will be interviewed when they join the programme and will still be treated as standard applicants.
When you enter the Surrey Civil Engineering Programme
For all students successful at interview the next stage is to be successful in your exams and enter the Surrey civil engineering programme. Once here our task is to prepare you for Scholarship Matching Day when you will meet with all the companies offering scholarship that year and will have the chance to present yourself for their attention. Matches are based on the combined interest of the student and the company so it is essential you are interested in a potential sponsor and have researched them and are able to gain their interest.
Matching day will be at the end of January 2016 and before then the University co-ordinator, the current scholars and the companies will all help you in focussing your interest and research in order to obtain useful information in preparation for matching. Matching is achieved based on information submitted by students and companies at the end of the day.
Matches are finalised towards the end of February when they have been agreed by both parties. The first year bursary can then be paid and interaction between scholar and sponsor is encouraged in preparation for the first training period which takes places during the summer vacation and lasts a minimum of eight weeks.
The usual progression of a scholar through the programme is shown below