Isra-Mart srl : Crown Estate scholarships promise funding for offshore wind postgrads

www.isra-mart.com

Isra-Mart srl news:

Students hoping to gain a master's degree focused on marine renewable energy projects, such as offshore wind farms or tidal stream arrays, are being encouraged with the offer of bursaries worth up to £3,600 to apply for a new course designed by the Crown Estate.

The Crown Estate today confirmed it is offering nine £3,600 bursaries to students studying for a renewable energy M.Sc. that will start this year. The application deadline for the course has been extended from 31 March to the end of this month.
The £32,400 funding will come from the Crown Estate's Round 3 offshore wind energy programme, which aims to deliver a quarter of the UK's electricity needs by 2020.

Students will study modules in marine renewable energy, marine stewardship and environmental impact assessment on the course, which has been designed in part by the Crown Estate for mtec@work, a consortium of five universities: Heriot-Watt, Newcastle, Strathclyde, Southampton and UCL.

Commenting on the bursaries, Rob Hastings, director of the marine estate, said that the course is designed to boost the skills and knowledge base of the marine renewables industry in the UK.

Renewable energy companies are under pressure to close a looming skills gap facing the industry, as demand for engineering skills increases while science and engineering graduates fail to keep pace.

The oft-cited 2008 Bain Report suggests that the UK could see a 25 per cent increase in direct full-time employees in the renewable energy sector, delivering 70,000 new jobs by 2020 and encompassing senior and mid-level management roles, as well as high-skilled labour.

"Long-term facilitation is required on our part, as we continue to work with partners to make the UK a global centre of excellence for low-carbon energies," said Hastings.