High Flying Exmouth Aircraft Engineering Degree Student Wins Coveted Scholarship

High flying Exmouth aircraft engineering student Oliver Barnard has won a prestigious national aerospace scholarship.

Exeter College student Oliver Barnard, from Exmouth, who studied an Aircraft Engineering Foundation Degree (FdEng) at the college, has beaten competition from across the UK to win the coveted Coachmakers’ Sir Sydney Camm Scholarship 2017.

The scholarship is awarded to a UK student who has shown outstanding ability, determination, ambition and potential. The award will allow Oliver to make a start on a career in aerospace engineering.

Oliver studied for his Foundation Degree at the Centre for University Level Studies, Exeter College. He recently graduated in his degree at Exeter Cathedral along with more than 160 other graduates. Exeter College is ‘Gold’ rated for teaching and learning through the Teaching Excellence Framework. The college was awarded Gold by the Higher Education Funding Council for England for ‘delivering consistently outstanding teaching, learning and outcomes for students. The Foundation degree in Aircraft Engineering Foundation Degree is delivered by the college in partnership with Kingston University London.

Oliver said: “It’s a great honour to have been awarded this scholarship. It makes all of the time dedicated into the studying even more worth it.

“I am also very grateful to the Coachmakers to have invited me to attend their Aerospace Industry dinner at the end of November to receive my awards certificate alongside the other scholarship winners.

“I am looking forward to celebrating the evening with them and will try to meet as many interesting and influential people in the aerospace industry as I can.”

Ollie is now topping up his degree to an Honours degree while also working to get hands on experience. Oliver said: “I needed to do something different and more practical, so I found out about this course. I liked the fact the course was made up of different subjects which rotate and the practical element breaks it up well too.

The support at college was very good. I would recommend my course – it’s definitely beneficial if you want to get practical experience along with your academic studies.

Each summer a shortlist of candidates from students studying toward Foundation degrees in the field of Aerospace. The students are interviewed by a panel from the Coachmakers Company and one scholarship, currently worth £4,700, is awarded as a contribution towards fees in the ensuing top up year.

Graham Noon, Oliver’s tutor during his course, said: “From the beginning of the Flybe Diploma in Aircraft Engineering Oliver showed determination to succeed in what is a very specialist course for prospective aircraft engineers. The course is run as a partnership between Flybe and Exeter College where the college deliver the theoretical aspects of the course and Flybe provide the practical training.

“Students even get six months ‘hands on’ practical training at the end of the course in the Flybe hangars where they get the opportunity to work on live aircraft in a real working environment, ideal preparation for a career in aircraft maintenance.

“I am very proud of the fact that Oliver has won this award in the face of fierce competition from across the country, it reflects upon his hard work and drive to succeed in an industry which is in need of a lot more young men and women of the calibre which Oliver has displayed.”

Dr Peter Barrington, Head, Department of Aerospace and Aircraft Engineering at Kingston University, said: “This is the fifth year the scholarship has been offered and the panel said that this year was one of the strongest fields.

“I teach on the top up programme at Kingston and I have always been impressed by those students coming from Exeter College. They show a good balance of practical and academic skills.”

About our Centre for University Level Studies

Exeter College is a ‘Gold’ rated college that offers a wide range of University Level courses with our partner universities including BA, Foundation Degree, HNC and HND programmes.

University level education at the Centre for University Level Studies is a critical and growing part of the college’s learning community. The college works in partnership with well-respected university partners and awarding bodies, enabling students to study in Exeter and at the same time benefit from teaching excellence and a wide choice of courses.