May NUI Galway welcomes applications for the Pauline and Bunnie Jones Scholarship Scheme for September 2021

The scholarship, valued at €10,000 per student, supports four undergraduate students from County Roscommon each year

NUI Galway staff and students held a virtual event to meet Leaving Certificate students from secondary schools in County Roscommon to launch applications for enrolment to the Pauline and Bunnie Jones Scholarship 2021. At the event, NUI Galway and the Jones family announced the extension of the scheme, which was established to encourage academic achievement and support students from County Roscommon enrolling in an undergraduate degree at NUI Galway. 

Supported by the Jones family of Tulsk, in honour of their parents Pauline and Bunnie Jones, the scholarship, valued at €10,000 per student, supports four undergraduate students each year.

Speaking about the scholarship, Adrian Jones said: “We are investing in Roscommon’s future, in honour of our parents who made great sacrifices to invest in us. They both believed passionately in the transformative power of learning. Our father’s formal education ended at 12 but, in his 40’s, he earned a Diploma in Social Studies, made possible by the dedication of Michael D. Higgins, then lecturing at NUI Galway. Our mother went back to NUI Galway, her alma mater, in her 70’s to study Archaeology.”

Four scholarships are awarded to four students presenting the highest Leaving Certificate results each year. Two scholarships are awarded to students attending Scoil Mhuire, Strokestown and two further scholarships to students attending all other schools in Co. Roscommon. The four recipients of the scholarship in its inaugural year were Catherine Mannion and Joshua Hanrahan from Scoil Mhuire Strokestown, and Sinéad Gorham and Ciara Mulheir from Castlerea Community School.

Scholarship recipient Sinéad Gorham said: “It’s incredibly comforting to know the immense amount of support that surrounds us students in our academic journey. The Jones Family have made it so clear to us recipients that they are here to not only support our academic studies but in our future careers and in our overall wellbeing. I recommend any Leaving Certificate student to apply for the scholarship because with the Jones Family mentorship, I believe that all recipients have a great foundation to receive what they want in life.”

Speaking about supporting young people, Dr Deirdre Jones said: “In our family, we are passionate about education providing opportunities. If you invest in young people, encourage young people and make it a little bit easier for them, hopefully they will turn around in three decades time and help somebody else.”

Director of Development at NUI Galway, Julie Stafford, said: “The Pauline and Bunnie Jones Scholarship programme encompasses all of the values we hold at NUI Galway: respect, sustainability, openness and excellence. The Jones family are part of our alumni community and it is a privilege to see them give back in such a generous way to our University and our region by supporting the next generation of students and acknowledging their talent and potential.”

To be eligible for the award, students are required to have attended and sat the Leaving Certificate at any school in County Roscommon. They must apply for any full-time undergraduate course at NUI Galway through the CAO and upon receipt and acceptance of a CAO offer, register as a student of NUI Galway by the due registration date.

Students are required to complete an expression of interest in the scholarship on or before Sunday, 1 August 2021. Full details of the scholarship scheme and the expression of interest form are available online: www.nuigalway.ie/roscommonscholarship/

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