Fintech Scholarship to boost UK industry
A new survey from Quotezone.co.uk has revealed that despite the UK being a global leader in fintech, a whopping 77% of students have never considered a job in the fintech industry.
Ahead of the opening of applications for the scholarship programme, the company has surveyed students from across the UK about their university experience and perception of the fintech sector.
The survey of 500 students carried out by Quotezone.co.uk found that 77% of UK students have never considered a career in the fintech sector, despite it contributing £11 billion to the UK economy and employing over 76,000 people at 1,600 firms throughout the UK, a number that is projected to double by 2030.* 36% of those surveyed said that this was due to a lack of education and awareness about the fintech sector and what it entails.
A further 26% of students surveyed said that they had not considered a job in fintech due to a lack of relevant experience and 25% of students surveyed said that gaining relevant experience was one of the biggest pressures they faced in higher education.
The UK could risk losing its status as a global fintech hub if it does not address the challenges around its talent shortage.
The Quotezone fintech scholarship aims to help increase awareness about the sector in the UK by asking students to explore what fintech could potentially offer them as a career and enter a short blog or vlog post on what the next generation see as the future of the industry.
The successful candidate will receive a £1,000 bursary which can be used to cover part of the cost of their studies, course materials or any other living expenses as well as the option to take part in industry-related work experience at Quotezone.co.uk.
Commenting on the scholarship, Greg Wilson, Founder and CEO of Quotezone.co.uk, said:
"The UK is a global leader in fintech, which contributes billions to our economy and has the potential to create thousands more jobs in the coming years. Despite this, there is a large talent shortage and a lack of awareness around the sector, as reflected in our survey results .
“The Fintech sector in the UK offers great prospects for graduates from all industry backgrounds, not only do we want to demonstrate the potential in this but we also want to provide the winning student with real, hands on career experience to help discover what it would be like to work in such a flourishing sector.
“We need bright young talent from across the curriculum in England, Scotland and Wales to fill these roles and create teams with diverse skillsets - creating pivotal change and driving innovation within the sector. I would strongly encourage students from right across Great Britain to explore fintech and apply for this opportunity.”
Last year’s winners were Kelsey Hunt, a second year student at St Andrews University, who wrote – FinTech and Small Business: a Dynamic Duo – highlighting the important role of fintech in the small business sector and Ella Henry, a MPhil student studying Biological Sciences at the University of Cambridge, who wrote a piece entitled – Fintech in a finite world: The price of protecting our planet focusing on climate change and the role fintech can play in helping create a sustainable future.
The deadline to enter the Quotezone.co.uk Fintech Scholarship is 30 March 2023, full details of how to apply are available here. There will be one winner from Great Britain and one winner from Northern Ireland, run via Quotezone’s sister company, CompareNI.com.
