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The ‘Aspire 2012’ Scholarship Programme

Welcome to the Aspire scholarship programme 2012. Now in its third year, this exciting initiative offers you a unique opportunity to study at Ireland’s leading business school, starting next September. We have received generous funding from a donor - who has chosen to remain anonymous - to provide:

Up to 3 MBA scholarships; and
Up to 9 scholarships for any of our other Masters programmes.

for study starting in September 2012.

These scholarships are intended by the donor as a contribution to the recovery of the Irish economy. They are specifically for those who could not otherwise afford to study at UCD Smurfit School.

If you have the talent, the drive and the initiative to study successfully at UCD Smurfit School and to go on to a successful career in Ireland, but are being held back by your personal financial circumstances, one of these scholarships could be for you.

They represent an extraordinary gesture of belief in the resilience of this country by the donor and we are hugely grateful for the generosity shown.

What do the ‘Aspire 2012’ scholarships provide?

The scholarships are for half the fees for the relevant courses.

In addition, if you receive a scholarship and you need to borrow the other half of the fees, there are special arrangements in place to enable you to do so.

If you do borrow the other half of the fees, repayments on your loan will start two years after completing the course.

How do I qualify for an ‘Aspire 2012’ scholarship?

You will need to be normally and legally resident in Ireland and meet the entry requirements for the course you want to study. In other words, for example, if you want to do an MBA, you will need to be qualified to do an MBA at UCD Smurfit School.

Click on the following links to review the admissions criteria for our Masters degrees and MBA Programmes.

To check your eligibility and to search for programmes of interest use our course finder tool.

You will also have to demonstrate clear evidence of financial need in order to qualify for an ‘Aspire 2012’ scholarship. We have established a special Review Committee to decide on who will be awarded these scholarships. A short list of applicants will be interviewed by the committee, who will look for documentary and/or written evidence to support financial need. This will be discussed with short-listed candidates at interview.

Who are the Review Committee?

We believe such a generous and far sighted initiative needs special adjudication. So, we have put together a high level Review Committee to determine who will receive the ‘Aspire 2012’ scholarships. The committe will be chaired by Cormac McCarthy, former CEO of Ulster Bank and 2 representatives from UCD School of Business. The views of the donor will also be considered by the Review Committee in the decision making process

How do I apply?

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED. As part of the application you will be asked to tell us, in no more than 300 words, why you would like to study at UCD Smurfit School and why you need an ‘Aspire 2012’ scholarship to be able to study here.

For general queries contact:

Tamsin Foley

Email: aspire@ucd.ie

What’s the Deadline?

Applications must be received by Friday May 11th 2012. Interviews will take place during May and the Review Committee will make offers by the end of June.

Scholarships at UCD Smurfit School

UCD Business Scholarship Fund was established to provide a range of scholarships at UCD Quinn School of Business and UCD Smurfit Business School.

The Fund provides a number of scholarship schemes for UCD Smurfit School, of which the ‘Aspire 2012’ initiative is one. Click here to find out about other scholarship programmes at UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School