BFPA and Arkwright Scholarships to support young engineers

To address this issue the BFPA is actively supporting young people who show real promise by sponsoring a number of keen and capable students in a landmark alliance with Arkwright Scholarships, a registered charity dedicated to encouraging 15/16 year old students to take up engineering as a profession.

Currently the BFPA is sponsoring five young students and it wishes them all every success in their academic endeavours. The five students are: Alexander Creswick (Bridgewater), Ben Curley (Wakefield), Sancheevan Karunanithy (Sutton), Victoria Houlden (Lincoln), and Timothy Guyott (Epsom), and they have all passed Arkwright's rigorous selection process so are to be congratulated. These students will all be placed with BFPA or BFPDA member companies for work experience.

In 2008 almost 240 students were awarded Arkwright scholarships, up from just five when the scheme started in 1991. Industry sponsorship such as that offered by the BFPA usually takes the form of financial support, student mentoring and even paid holiday employment while the students complete A levels in stem subjects such as science, engineering, technology and mathematics: in essence, funding students to do their A levels.

So important is the BFPA-Arkwright alliance that the President of BFPA, Ray Roberts, presented the awards at the 2008 Arkwright Presentation on 31 October 2008, which was held at the Institution of Engineering Technology (IET), Savoy Place, London. Linda Scott OBE, Chief Executive at Arkwright recently observed: "Helping industry through the BFPA is a slightly different model to those we have experienced previously. It is very exciting for Arkwright and a model we shall use elsewhere."