Bursary schemes
AGCAS and HECSU, the charitable arm of Graduate Prospects, provide annual funding for two bursary schemes:
- a standard bursary fund
- an MA bursary fund
Standard bursary fund
The fund is used to help those AGCAS members who, due to lack of funding, would be unable to undertake the Postgraduate Certificate and/or Diploma in Career Education, Information and Guidance in HE (CEIG HE). This is the professional qualification appropriate to our work offered through the University of Reading in partnership with AGCAS.
The fund is allocated and administered in the following way:
1. Places on the residential Challenges of Careers Work in HE course are fully funded for all registrants who are members of AGCAS. As this is a core module for the certificate, diploma and MA, it will be of benefit to all registrants. Please note, however, that the assessment fee is not automatically covered.
2. The remaining money each year is used to encourage new registrations. Individuals can apply for help from the fund for the residential costs or assessment fees for an individual module.
3. To be eligible to apply, individuals must be current members of AGCAS (any level of membership) and register for the qualification with the University of Reading.
4. The aim of the fund is to encourage applications from services in the following categories:
- services who have not yet had a registrant;
- services who are able to part-fund, eg a residential element, but not cover the assessment fee or vice versa and therefore need help with funding;
- services who are unable to fund all members of staff who want to register, at the same time;
- individual members not supported by an AGCAS service, eg academics, job shop staff, FE/HE careers staff
5. Applications must be made on a module-by-module basis, on the appropriate form, to the Quality and Membership Manager in the first instance. Applications should be made as early as possible, preferably at the same time as you apply for a place on the course or for a distance learning pack. Retrospective applications cannot be considered.
6. The following conditions apply:
- If an individual obtains a bursary, a repayment could be claimed if they fail to complete the assessment within two years
- If an individual withdraws within six weeks of a residential course, they may be invoiced for all or part of the course fee
MA bursary fund
AGCAS and HECSU also jointly provide an MA bursary fund to help those who, due to lack of funding, would be unable to undertake a relevant MA qualification, and to promote research into areas of interest and benefit to the HE careers sector.
The fund is allocated and administered in the following way:
1. To be eligible to apply, individuals must be current members of AGCAS (any level of membership) and must be registered for a suitable MA course (this includes, but is not exclusively tied to, the AGCAS/University of Reading MA).
2. It is a condition of the funding that recipients undertake an agreed piece of research deemed of interest/benefit to the HE careers sector, andprepare a summary of their research for dissemination.
3. Individuals can apply for help from the fund for:
- the costs of any taught module (if required as part of the MA), including course fees and assessment fees;
- the costs of the dissertation, including assessment and supervision fees, and research costs (postage, printing, travel etc).
4. Applications must be made on the appropriate form. The AGCAS Research Advisory Group will take decisions on allocation.
5. If an individual obtains an MA bursary, a repayment from the individual, or their service, could be claimed under the following circumstances:
- If they fail to complete the assessment for any module for which funding has been received within two years
- If they withdraw within six weeks of a residential course
- If they fail to complete their dissertation within the registration period
- If they fail to provide a summary of the research for dissemination
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Bursary Funding Downloads
- MA Bursary Fund Application Form (21.5 KB)
- Bursary Fund Application Form (21.5 KB)