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Scholarships and Bursaries reception: Letting the students do the talking

By Carly Schnabl, on 1 April 2011

On Monday 21 March, UCL hosted the inaugural student-led Scholarships and Bursaries reception, celebrating the impact of philanthropic support for students at UCL reports Emily Peirson-Webber (UCL Development and Alumni Relations).

Sepideh Hajisoltani, who is studying MSc Building and Urban Design in Development, was one of the student hosts for the event:

We are holding this reception to express how grateful we are for the support we have received and we have a good number of reasons to be grateful.

We all have different backgrounds and numerous stories of how we ended up here but now we all share one thing in common: our dream of having a chance to study in a world class university has come true.

Eighteen ‘UCL Ambassadors’ acted as hosts for the evening event, representing students receiving scholarship awards, competitive bursary and needs-based awards, and a selection of hardship fund recipients.

The audience heard speeches from Professor Malcolm Grant, UCL President and Provost, and Joshua Selvaratnam, a first year LLB Laws student who has received the John Elliot Bursary.

In his speech Joshua spoke compellingly about the difference the bursary has made to him, and about how important student support is:

If there is but one thing that you take away from this night, let it be this, and I believe I speak on behalf of all of my fellow recipients and colleagues, that we are so very grateful. Each one of the awards received has changed our lives for the better in so many ways.

We were also delighted to be joined by Mr William Douglas (UCL Laws, 1996), who is a donor to The Douglas Family Undergraduate Bursary, who spoke openly about his experiences of making a gift in support of UCL students.

It was wonderful to welcome some of our most generous donors to scholarships and bursaries at UCL. The event provided our guests with the opportunity to meet our students and to learn from them just how important the support of UCL’s friends and donors is, now more than ever.

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