Since its inception in 2015 Loughborough University London has offered a 100% scholarship for local people to come and study at its London campus on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
In 2023 UCL began offering its own 100% scholarship to study a postgraduate programme on its newly opened UCL East campus on the Park and at its School of Management in Canary Wharf.
To support local graduates to access these opportunities, the two universities have today announced that they are joining forces to offer a combined personal and professional development workshop package for interested recent graduates.
The aim of the Inspiring Success initiative is to encourage people to test drive the experience of studying at UCL or Loughborough London, while also boosting their personal and professional development.
Vice Chancellor of Loughborough University Professor Nick Jennings said:
“We at Loughborough are delighted to be working with our friends and colleagues at UCL to expand opportunities for east Londoners. We know that east London is a hot bed of talent and our collaboration will enable more local people to access the education offered by UCL and Loughborough. Connecting with this talent is a big part of why we have established our campuses on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. We are delighted to be collaborating to extend this offer.”
Professor Paola Lettieri, Pro-Provost UCL East, said:
“UCL is proud to be working with east Londoners to join the embedded culture to develop innovation, enterprise, learning and skills. We are excited to be joining forces with Loughborough University London to connect more local graduates to the opportunities we have across our campuses in ways that are accessible and relevant to them. Our partnership is founded on a common goal to have a positive impact on the communities we serve. This is a real win-win for all involved.”
The four workshops will offer an opportunity for unemployed and underemployed local graduates to invest in their personal and professional development. Over four evenings in June they will be challenged to undertake a series of intensive, career focused activities. The workshops will also give an insight into what it is like to study one of the vast range of postgraduate degrees on offer at the UCL East or Loughborough University London campuses on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
These include the MSc in Disability, Design and Innovation, which is a joint programme developed and delivered by UCL, Loughborough University London and UAL’s London College of Fashion for the Global Disability Innovation Hub at UCL East
Participants will also learn about opportunities for local graduates to get involved in SHIFT, which is a catalyst organisation supporting innovators on and around the Park. Loughborough, UAL and UCL are all founding members.
Vanessa Brown, who grew up in Hackney and is a former recipient of the Loughborough Scholarship said “These scholarships are a truly transformational opportunity for local graduates. Since graduating from Loughborough, I have embarked on my PhD following a passion ignited by my studies. I would encourage any local graduates to take a look at what doors these workshops could open for them.”
UCL is supporting Inspiring Success in conjunction with the Foundation for Future London (FFL), as one element of a range of activity designed to create new jobs, learning, training and educational programmes for people in Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
Since starting its programme in 2015 Loughborough has been kindly supported by a range of local organisations and businesses including the London Legacy Development Corporation and more recently Sports Interactive and West Ham Community Development Foundation.