Students at the University of Lincoln will benefit from a new £2.7m project designed to encourage more undergraduates to progress to Masters degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Lincoln is part of a consortium of nine English universities which has been awarded a major grant by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
The government funding, worth £1.85m, is part of HEFCE’s new £25million Postgraduate Support Scheme that will provide work placements and financial and pastoral support to more than 2,800 students at 40 universities across England. A key aim of the scheme is to encourage students who would not otherwise progress to postgraduate level to take up Masters study.
The University of Lincoln is part of a consortium led by Kingston University which will examine the postgraduate student experience. The aim of the work is to encourage students to continue onto postgraduate study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and then track how they fare after graduation. Researchers will investigate the expectations and experiences of students, universities and employers towards postgraduate programmes taught in the STEM subject areas.
Scholarships will be available to cover the fees of 40 postgraduate students at each of the universities involved and the partners will develop mechanisms to support the students.
Dr Andrea Abbas, a Reader in Education and Acting Head of the University of Lincoln’s Centre for Educational Research and Development, will oversee Lincoln’s part of the project. It gets underway in January 2014 and is expected to conclude in March 2016.
For more information, visit: http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/news/2013/12/820.asp