Introduction
The School of the Built Environment awards a limited number of scholarships for its taught postgraduate programmes offered which are awarded on a competitive basis to UK, EU and international postgraduates each year.

Full-time UK/EU Scholarship (x2)
This scholarship contributes a value of up to £2,520 towards a full-time Master’s degree tuition fees for a period of one year.

Part-time UK/EU Scholarship (x2)
This scholarship contributes a value of up to £1,350 per year towards a part-time or distance learning Master’s degree tuition fees for a period of up to two years.

Full-time International Scholarship
This scholarship contributes a value up to the level of the international student tuition fees towards a full-time Master’s degree for a period of one year.

Full-time Hodgkinson Postgraduate Scholarship (open to UK/EU and international applicants)
These scholarships contribute a value up to the level of the international student tuition fees towards a full-time Master’s degree for a period of one year. The Scholarship Committee may, at its discretion, split the scholarship funds available and offer 2 or more partial scholarships, each contributing a set amount towards the cost of a full-time Master’s degree tuition fees for a period of one year.

Please note: The scholarships listed above are designed to offer a funding award set against the cost of tuition fees for a Master’s degree within the School, and do not include a contribution towards living costs, travel, text books, or other ancillary items.

Courses:
All applicants for the following degree programmes may apply for a scholarship, and all scholarships are tenable on any of the programmes listed, as offered by the School of the Built Environment:

• Master of Architecture (M.Arch)
• Master of Planning (M.Plan )
• MSc Energy Efficient and Sustainable Buildings
• MSc Environmental Assessment and Management
• MSc Environmental Management and Technology
• MSc Historic Conservation
• MA Humanitarian & Development Practice
• MA International Architectural Regeneration and Development
• MSc International Real Estate
• MSc Real Estate Management
• MSc Project Management in the Built Environment
• MSc Spatial Planning
• MSc Tourism: Environment and Development
• MSc Transport Planning
• MA Urban Design
• MSc Urban Planning in Developing Countries

Eligibility

• All applicants must fulfil the academic entry requirements for postgraduate study in the University and School of the Built Environment. All applicants must have been offered a place on one of the degree programmes listed above.
• All scholarships are available for one year full-time or two years part-time (or open/distance learning programmes), as appropriate, leading to a Master’s degree within the School of the Built Environment at Oxford Brookes University. All scholarship applicants must start their degree studies in the 2007-08 academic year.
• The scholarships are open to all applicants from the UK, EU and international locations, as appropriate.
• All scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis, and therefore applicants should have, or expect to obtain, a good honours degree (First Class or 2.1 equivalent) from a recognised institution of higher education, or have experience which demonstrates appropriate knowledge and skills at honours degree standard.
• Scholarship applicants who are final year undergraduates must expect to be notified of the result of their degree before 31 July 2007 in order to be considered for a scholarship. International students must meet the English language requirements for their programme.
• Scholarship applicants receiving a partial award of funding from other sources may be awarded a “top-up” scholarship. However, applicants receiving one or more awards from other funding sources that contribute to all of their Master’s degree tuition fees will not be eligible for these scholarships. Eligibility will not be affected by funding towards maintenance or for fees over and above the scholarship amount.
• Scholarship applicants who receive financial awards from other sources of funding which cover all their tuition fees will not be eligible for these scholarships. Eligibility will not be affected if a candidate is receiving funding towards living costs, travel, text books, or other ancillary items or for tuition fees over and above the amount of the School’s actual scholarship award.

Application Procedure
Applicants must apply for a scholarship at the same time as, or subsequent to, applying for one of the named Master’s degrees listed in this leaflet:

Applicants must complete the appropriate Scholarship Application Form (Built Environment Postgraduate Scholarship Application Form and/or Hodgkinson Postgraduate Scholarship Application Form). Applicants should inform their referees that they are applying for a scholarship and ask them to state their support in a letter addressed to the Senior Postgraduate Administrator.

Scholarship applications must be accompanied by a CV, and a personal statement in the section provided which must clearly identify:

1. why the applicant believes they are deserving of the scholarship; and
2. if applying for the Hodgkinson Postgraduate Scholarship (see below), how their intended programme of study will address the scholarship criteria.

The deadline for receipt of a scholarship application is Friday 27 April 2007 for entry to the programme in September 2007.

The School’s postgraduate scholarships are awards made towards tuition fees only. It is therefore important that applicants clearly identify how they intend to raise the additional funding necessary to cover living costs, travel, textbooks, other ancillary costs and any additional fees, should the tuition fees be higher than the amount of scholarship available.

Applicants failing to comply with these procedures will not be considered for the scholarship.

Candidates should be notified if they have been successful by 15 June 2007.

Selection Criteria
The scholarships will be awarded on a competitive basis of academic merit and how their chosen degree programme relates to their career ambitions and personal development.

In addition, for the Hodgkinson Postgraduate Scholarship, the scholarship committee will review the applicant’s personal statement in terms of how their proposed programme of study will promote an understanding of and address at least one of the following:

• performance monitoring of built environment professionals: Benchmarking of consultant/professional performance has largely been anecdotal until the recent introduction of supply chain management techniques. Today the measurement, review and targeting of performance against comparable/competitor performance are becoming regular features of professional life. However, the measurement of ‘professionals’ is a cultural issue as well as one of performance, and many continue to resist what have become well used techniques in many areas of business and service provision.
• project review and ‘close-out’: Most management procedures require a close-out review to ensure knowledge capture. This simple discipline is not a particularly common feature of UK projects, but should take place to ensure learning and team development amongst built environment professionals. The art and science of close-outs, including facilitation and information gathering to inform discussion, review and dissemination, will become ever more valuable in a knowledge based economy.
• client drivers: The process of client development and management either in relation to a project or otherwise, is a key skill for any professional. For those working in the built environment, the challenge is to have a clear idea of how to create, build and manage accounts/or relationships, including the cost of starting and or losing a client to both a company and the individual
• financial implications: Too often built environment professionals do not have a clear idea of the financial implications and drivers of projects. The emphasis tends to fall on the aesthetic, technical or procedural aspects, however, in practise, meeting and designing to cost parameters, to avoid waste of team effort and frustration due to replication of work, is a key success factor for most professionals.

Selection Process

1. The Scholarship Committee of the School of the Built Environment will be responsible for the allocation of the scholarships identified in this leaflet. The decision of the Committee in awarding the scholarships is final and the Committee will not enter into discussion regarding decisions.
2. When allocating awards, the Scholarship Committee will take account of:
   • applicant’s performance in examinations and other formal assessments at first degree level. (In the case of final year undergraduates, the Committee will take into consideration the applicant’s expected results, as indicated by their referees. Conditional offers of scholarships will only be confirmed if applicants achieve satisfactory results.);
   • work experience and professional qualifications, if appropriate;
   • applicant’s personal statements about their intended programme of study and their reasons and purposes for undertaking it. This is an important part of the application, and the Committee will pay particular attention to what applicants write in their personal statements. For the Hodgkinson scholarship this must indicate how this relates to the objectives of this particular scholarship;
   • references supporting the applicant’s programme and scholarship applications;
   • supporting statements from programme tutors to which the applicant has applied, where applicable.
3. Successful scholarship applicants who are undergraduates in their final year of study will be made a conditional offer of scholarship. The conditional offer will be confirmed if the applicant submits their degree certificate(s) and/or transcript(s) before 31 July 2007, indicating they have met the academic selection criteria of the scholarship.
4. A reserve list may be drawn up in case any of the selected applicants do not take up the offer of a scholarship. The Committee will also monitor student progress, in the case of part-time scholarships awarded for two years.

Deadlines
Full-time scholarships:
The School must receive completed scholarship applications by 27 April 2007. Successful applicants will be informed of the Committee’s decision by 15 June 2007. Applicants who are offered a scholarship must indicate by 29 June 2007 whether they wish to accept the offer of a scholarship. Applicants failing to notify the School of their intention to take up the offer of a scholarship by the deadline of 29 June will forfeit the scholarship, and it will be re-allocated to the next applicant on the scholarship reserve list.

Part-time scholarships:
The School must receive completed scholarship applications by 15 June 2007. Successful applicants will be informed of the Committee’s decision by 13 July 2007. Applicants who are offered a scholarship must indicate by 31 July 2007 whether they wish to accept. Applicants failing to notify the School of their intention to take up the offer of a scholarship by the deadline of 31 July will forfeit the scholarship, and it will be re-allocated to the next applicant on the scholarship reserve list.

No late applications will be accepted.

Further Information
Postgraduate programme information is available from the School’s Senior Postgraduate Administrator, or can be viewed on the School’s web site on www.brookes.ac.uk/schools/be

The address for correspondence in relation to the scholarships listed in this leaflet is:

The Senior Postgraduate AdministratorSchool of the Built Environment
Oxford Brookes University
Headington Campus
Oxford OX3 OBPUK
email: pgadmin.be@brookes.ac.uk
tel: +44 (0) 1865 483684
fax: +44 (0) 1865 483559

Source of this announcement can be found here.