This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Funding for Fresh Talent
23/03/2007
A further £390,000 is being invested in projects to support and encourage more international graduates to live and work in Scotland, it was announced today.
Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform Tom McCabe has allocated the money to a number of ongoing schemes which aim to attract fresh talent by encouraging international students to stay on in Scotland.
Funding is being made available from the Fresh Talent budget to support the following programmes in the 2007-08 academic year:
- The Fresh Talent: Supporting International Students Challenge Fund (£300,000) - this fund helps universities and colleges to support activities for international students during and towards the end of their studies in Scotland
- Dare to be Digital (£50,000) supports a 10 week summer competition run by University of Abertay Dundee for high-flying students who work together in international teams to develop marketable products in computer science or computer arts
- Encouraging Dynamic Global Entrepreneurs (£40,000) - a cultural programme which brings together schools pupils and students from Scotland, USA, Canada and Poland to encourage entrepreneurship
Mr McCabe said:
"Scotland has a world-class education system which continues to attract the brightest and best talent from around the world. We want to encourage these talented and ambitious young graduates to make Scotland their home. International graduates can help address our demographic challenges while boosting Scotland's economy and contributing to our diverse culture.
"The funding announced today supports the aim of the Fresh Talent initiative - to attract and retain international talent in Scotland. Already we can see the success of the initiative - more than 4,300 international graduates have chosen to stay and work at the end of their studies through the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme. Recent research shows that students from overseas feel supported and welcome during their studies in Scotland and we want this to continue.
"I can also confirm today that we will be expanding the Scottish International Scholarship Programme from 2008-09 academic session, to offer 25 scholarship places. The opportunity to study a one-year Masters degree in Scotland be offered to scholars from four countries - China, India, Singapore and, for the first time, the US.
"Scotland is already a popular choice amongst Chinese students. Attracting students from the US is in keeping with our commitment to focus and build on our already positive relationships with the US and China.
"Scotland is clearly positioned as a leading choice in education. We have to ensure that the thousands of international students who come to study at our universities and colleges get the right experience and opportunities to realise that Scotland is also a leading choice as a place to live and work."
International students have been identified as a key target of the Executive's Fresh Talent policy, which aims to attract and retain bright, motivated and hard-working people to live, work and study in Scotland to support economic growth.
To date the Fresh Talent: Supporting International Students Challenge Fund has provided £500,000 of funding to support 33 projects in 20 institutions. Closing date for applications is June 22, 2007 with successful projects being announced early September. For case studies of some of these projects, fund application form and guidance visit .
The Scottish International Scholarship programme is managed by the British Council Scotland. The scholarship was introduced for the 2005/06 academic session, and currently offers 22 scholarship places annually to scholars from China (9), India (6), Australia (2), Singapore (2), South Africa (2) and New Zealand (1).
From 2008-09, scholarships will be offered to scholars from China (11), India (6), United States (6) and Singapore (2).
Dare to be Digital is a unique digital product development competition open to students (either undergraduate or postgraduate), studying at Universities and Colleges of Art. It is the premier selection and recruitment process for interactive entertainment companies and provides a prime opportunity for new-start businesses in the creative industries.
It offers the opportunity for teams of artistic and technology students to develop their digital product concept/ideas (games-any platform) into reality with full support. The project is managed by the University of Abertay Dundee.
The Fresh Talent initiative has supported the participation of international scholars in the competition in the past 2 years. In 2007, £50,000 from the Fresh Talent budget will support the participation of 2 international teams - one from India and one from China.
The Encouraging Dynamic Global Entrepreneurs (EDGE) programme was introduced in the summer of 2005, and brought together US and Scottish students with Scottish school pupils and businesses in a summer school to encourage entrepreneurship.
The programme was expanded in 2006 to include students from both the University of Glasgow and Glasgow Caledonian University, along with school pupils from Glasgow and Dunbartonshire schools. International students from Columbia University in New York, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Waterloo University in Ontario and Warsaw University in Poland also took part.
Fresh Talent funding in 2005 and 2006 supported a programme of cultural activities for international participants designed to promote Scotland, including outdoor activities, visits to the Scottish Parliament and historical and cultural centres, and events to promote networking with businesses and influential guests. Funding for 2007 will support a similar programme for international participants.