Access to an already generous horticulture bursary scheme from the Horticultural Development Company (HDC) has been widened this year enabling undergraduates on all sorts of courses ranging from agriculture, chemistry and zoology to apply.
The HDC Undergraduate Final Year Bursary Scheme, launched in 2012, is open to students on courses that include a year in industry and offers up to 10 students £4,500 towards their final year work placement, which must have a strong horticultural focus.
The aim is to encourage astute individuals from a range of disciplines to engage with and apply their studies to a plethora of technical horticultural jobs in a bid to move high-calibre candidates into horticultural careers.
Jon Knight, Head of Research and Knowledge Transfer at HDC said, “Building capacity for a highly skilled horticultural workforce is a key part of the HDC’s research strategy. We have made a point of broadening the eligibility criteria of our student bursaries so that we are able to expose more of the best undergraduates to the wealth of opportunities within horticulture and get them to see the industry for the viable and exciting career destination that it is.”
In 2014 five students from Harper Adams University and one from University of Sheffield took placements at businesses including, C N Seeds, E C Drummond (Agriculture), Specialist Spreading Services, Really Welsh Trading Company and Emmett UK Ltd.