Megan Keith at the Winning Students 100 launch in Stirling
Following a new injection of funding from sportscotland and the Scottish Funding Council, Scotland’s national sports scholarship programme for talented student athletes has relaunched as Winning Students 100.
Helping student athletes balance their studies with high performance training and competition, the newly-branded Winning Students 100 provides athletes with grants of up to £3000 and works with respective colleges and universities to offer additional support such as academic flexibility.
With funding secured until 2028, it is expected 500 scholarships will be awarded over the period with the programme also introducing a hardship fund to offer additional support to eligible student athletes.
106 scholarships have been awarded for 2023/24 across 28 different sports and 21 universities and colleges.
New scholars for the revamped programme including current Olympic champion, Hailey Duff (curling); Paralympic medallist, Lewis Stewart (cycling); Commonwealth gold medallist, Grace Reid (diving); Britain’s first ever Para Nordic World medallist, Scott Meenagh (biathlon) and U23 European 10,000m record holder, Megan Keith (athletics).
Keith, who won the U23 European Cross Country by a record margin before her record-breaking efforts at the Valencia 10K in January, is one of our leading prospects and a prime example of a world-class student athlete pursuing excellence in and out of the classroom.
Commenting on the impact of Winning Students 100 on her sporting and academic endeavours, the University of Edinburgh, Applied Sport Science student, Megan: ‘I really appreciate the generous support from Winning Students 100 for the upcoming year.
‘In what is looking like an exciting year of competitions, the scholarship will help fund the travel required to train and compete to the best of my ability.’
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Established in 2008, the original Winning Students programme saw over 1,700 scholarships awarded during its first phase of funding with noteworthy alumni including Olympic medallists Laura Muir (athletics); Duncan Scott (swimming); Vicky Wright and Bruce Mouat (both curling).
As the newest funding partner, sportscotland’s involvement brings true cross-sector collaboration to the programme with Scotland’s sport and higher education bodies both committed to supporting a duel-career pathway for the…
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