Fifteen Queen’s University Belfast students will make history this week as they head to the USA as the first group to benefit from the Clinton Scholarship Fund.
The initiative was launched in April 2023 in honour of President Clinton and the University Chancellor Secretary Hillary Clinton as part of the GFA 25 conference.
The students will be travelling to universities in various parts of the US, including North Carolina and New York.
The scholarship is designed to remove financial barriers for local students to undertake study opportunities in the USA during their degree at Queen’s to broaden horizons and deliver wider opportunities.
Kyle Jones, who studies International Relations and Conflict Studies and is heading to the University of North Carolina for a semester.
He said receiving the scholarship has allowed him to go somewhere he would never have been able to go: “I’m the first person in my family to go to university never mind travel to the US, so without the scholarship funding, it wouldn’t be possible.
“People like me, with my background, don’t get these opportunities often.”
Those involved study across a range of subjects including Biomedical Science, English, Software Engineering and Politics.
Pro-Vice Chancellor for Global Engagement, Professor Margaret Topping, said the scholarship opens up a whole new world of possibility students wouldn’t otherwise have
She said: “The Scholarship Fund gives students the opportunity to spend anything from one week to one year in the United States. They might go and have career development opportunities, or they may study in one of our partner institutions in the US. But whatever they are doing, those experiences are life-changing, they’re horizon expanding, and they .”
