A UNIVERSITY is honouring the best of its most recent Freshers intake, including one from Kent, by giving them a £2,000 scholarship towards the costs of their first year studies.

Entrance scholarships, which started in 2006 and this year has been awarded to more than 100 entrants into the University of Reading, are given to those undergraduates who have come top of their class at entrance level (i.e. A-Level or equivalent) for a range of degrees including agriculture, animal sciences, microbiology, maths, chemistry, food bioSciences, pharmacy, natural sciences, modern languages and finance.

Charlotte Gore, 19, from Wouldham, near Maidstone, who studied at King’s School, Rochester, is one of the recipients. She is now studying for a degree in agriculture.

She said: “When originally applying to university I was aiming to become a vet, and so it was the hugely competitive nature of this degree that inspired me to work to achieve the high grades required.

"However having grown up on a farm, I soon realised that my real interests and enthusiasm were focussed within the farming industry.

"The scholarship was offered when I sent off my application to study agriculture at Reading, which was a real bonus, and is helping to fund living costs. I am now thoroughly enjoying the course, and university life in general. I am hoping to work as a farm business onsultant when I graduate.”

Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gordon Marshall, said: “I am absolutely delighted we have been able to reward these fine students for their hard work.

“At Reading we commit more than 40 per cent of our increased tuition fee income to our bursaries and scholarships programme. This is because we believe in making university accessible to everyone whom can benefit from higher education.”

Scholarships and bursaries provide opportunities to students who wouldn’t necessarily be able to come to University. The cost of Higher Education can be a barrier to some, but the support of this University is giving students fantastic opportunities to develop their potential.

Over future years, Reading hopes to extend its range and number of scholarships offered, so that as many students as possible can receive this £2,000 award for the first year of their study at Reading.

Reading will also be awarding achievement scholarships which will reward the highest achieving students following part one and two examinations, in their second and third years at the University of Reading, with the aim of giving students the incentive to work as hard as possible, while also removing some of the financial pressure associated with higher education study.