Malmesbury student awarded £36,000 scholarship

Every year, the James Dyson Foundation offers a university scholarship to one A-level student at Malmesbury School who intends to study science, technology, engineering, product design or maths at university. This year’s scholarship has been awarded to 18-year-old Adrien Fauvarque.

Adrien has applied to study mechanical engineering at several top UK universities. The James Dyson Foundation scholarship will pay for Adrien’s annual tuition fees for up to four years – the length of a typical engineering degree.

Adrien says, “I’m very excited to have won the James Dyson Foundation scholarship – it means that I’ll be able to focus on my studies, without the distraction of financial worries. After graduation, I want to be an engineer. I don’t know exactly what type yet, but I know that I want to have a job where I get to work on useful things that will help people."

Adrien had to fight off stiff competition from other Malmesbury School students to win the scholarship. Students applying for the fund were asked to explain what inspired them about the degree they had chosen, as well as writing 300 words about their favourite invention. Adrien wrote about Leonardo da Vinci’s self-propelled cart. Four shortlisted students were then put through their paces in an interview with the James Dyson Foundation and a Dyson engineer.

James Dyson says, “Adrien is a clever young man with an evident passion for his chosen degree. The list of engineering competitions and events he has entered, in his own time, is impressive! I have no doubt that he will do exceptionally well at university, putting his theoretical abilities in maths and physics to practical use.”

Britain is currently only producing 66,000 engineering graduates a year – an annual shortfall of 38,000. The Malmesbury School scholarship is part of the James Dyson Foundation’s work to support young, local people in becoming engineers.