Imperial's first scholarship to be funded by a class of alumni will support a Chemical Engineering undergraduate joining the College in 2014.

It’s been 50 years since the Chemical Engineering class of 1963 graduated but links among the former Imperial students remain strong. Thanks in particular to the efforts of three members of that class, Bill McAuley, Bog Juren and Eric Ying (see sidebar), around 30 of the original cohort are in regular contact. In recent years, the trio have organised informal catch ups and class reunions, the last of which provided a platform for proposing a new Imperial scholarship, launched this month.

Malcolm Matthews notes that most of the class are concerned about the impact on students of changes in the cost of higher education. “Many of us in my generation realise what a golden deal we had,” he says. “Either the state or our local council paid our tuition fees and gave us a grant to live on. If we worked in our vacations to earn some spending money, we came out essentially debt-free.” 

The same class (with the addition of partners) in June 2013

Contrasting this experience with the financial challenges facing students today, the Class of ’63 decided to do something practical and establish a scholarship. Imperial’s first ‘class gift scholarship’ will fund the maintenance costs and part of the tuition costs of an outstanding Chemical Engineering undergraduate joining the College in 2014 who has been assessed as in financial need.  The funding will be for the duration of the student’s course and the student will be chosen by the Department from a list of all eligible candidates, based on academic performance.

Pointing towards the wider impact of the gift, Malcolm notes that “Capable engineers are essential to a balanced UK economy.  We need a supply of engineering graduates with skills based on understanding the underlying theory of their discipline.  In short, we need more UK engineers with an Imperial education.”

Professor Andrew Livingston, Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering, completely agrees. “It is clear that we need to support the development of talented young engineers, and the Department of Chemical Engineering is incredibly grateful to the class of 1963 for this generous gift,” he says. “We are confident that it will have an immense impact on the student who receives the scholarship and I look forward to meeting them next year.”

Malcolm adds, “Life is uncertain enough for young people of modest means without the added worry of a large, overhanging debt at the start of their career,” he says. “Our class likes the idea that we’ll be giving something back, and hopefully the scholarship will make a real difference to one youngster’s decision to go to Imperial.”