Wexford help for scholarship

James Kelly with Professor Anthony Brabazon, Dean, UCD College of Business. UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School has launched the ninth year of its Aspire Scholarship Programme, with the help of James Kelly from Wexford Town, a current MBA student and one of 12 2017 Aspire scholars.

The scholarship provides graduates across the country with the opportunity to secure funding towards tuition at Ireland’s leading business school.

This year will see 50 per cent funding made available for up to nine MSc scholarships and up to three MBA scholarships for the 2018/19 academic year.

These scholarships are for applicants who have the ambition to undertake a business masters, but who may not have the financial means to do so. Applications for the programme can be made online at www. smurfitschool.ie before Friday, May 11.

The Aspire Scholarship Programme was launched in 2010 following a donation of €500,000 from an anonymous benefactor. To date 90 graduates have benefitted from the programme since its introduction, with many of these alumni having either secured roles in leading companies such as Accenture, EY, Citi, PepsiCo, AIB, Ulster Bank, Avolon, Microsoft, Intel and Google or have applied their learnings in start-up businesses of their own.

James, a current MBA student and a 2017 Aspire Scholar said that applying for the Aspire Scholarship Programme gave him the opportunity to pursue a MBA with Ireland’s top business school. ‘I was honoured to be chosen as one of the 12 recipients by the committee. The course has allowed me to broaden my skills, gain fantastic experience which will benefit me in future stages of my career and interact with a whole new global network of individuals. I am truly grateful for the experience and would recommend that any prospective student interested should apply for the Aspire programme,’ he said.