b'6 Partner News Summer 2023IET updatesIET Futures Fund: How Partnerships Make a DifferenceChris Cooper is in his final year of an MEng in Electronic Engineering at theUniversity of York. He is an Engineering Horizons Bursary Recipient,supported by Spirax-Sarco Engineering. The IETs current LaunchScholarships programme evolved from Engineering Horizons Bursaries. Coming from a low-socioeconomicbooks for my degree. Because of the bursary background, and being neurodiverse, resultedI was given the time and resources to further in Chris believing that he would never bedevelop my skills outside of my degree.able to go to university because he thought university isnt for people like me.Chris is looking forward to joining his donor company, Spirax-Sarco Engineerings However, while working at Portakabin in York,Global Graduate Leadership Development Chris had a chance to meet with a UniversityProgramme as a Graduate Engineer when he of York student. After Chris expressedhas completed his course. that he dreamed of being an engineer but didnt think that university was for him, theCaroline Ellis, Early Careers Manager atChris was awarded Social university student managed to help Chris seeSpirax-Sarco Engineering Plc says: it hasMobility Champion for his work with Role Models Yorkshire at the the potential that he had to succeed. been fantastic to support new and emergingStudent Social Mobility Awards. engineering talent through the IETs That chance meeting with a positive roleEngineering Horizons Bursaries, and now, model resulted in Chris resitting his GCSEs,Launch Scholarships, programmes. Being going to college and then becoming aable to engage with the engineers of the student at the University of York himself.future supports our aims to build a diverse This led to him wanting to inspire andengineering talent pipeline. support others to fulfil their potential: alongside his studies, Chris set up RoleAlthough we have funded Chriss bursary Models Yorkshirea non-profit thatand seen him grow and develop through helps young people from disadvantagedhis degree, he chose to apply to the Global backgrounds go to university and/or achieveGraduate Programme independently and their career aspirations.went through the same assessment process as every other applicant.At Assessment He explains how the Engineering HorizonsCentre he stood out to us in terms of bursary has helped him in his course andhis fit to our Company Values, his ability gave him the freedom to develop his skillsto demonstrate leadership potential, his and inspire others: enthusiasm and his overall manner with the other candidates and the assessors.Ive had to both complete my degree, keep up with my commitments as well as lookThe partnership with the IET is something after my family. This put me in huge financialwe are very much committed to; we have difficulty, but the bursary helped relieve meseen the benefits in terms of supporting of this burden. students in multiple ways and on this occasion especially, we have someone with Without the bursary, I wouldnt have the timehuge potential choosing to join us on the for extracurriculars because I would have toprogramme and beyond.work all the spare hours to afford bills and'