A new postgraduate student at the University of Aberdeen has outshone numerous others to scoop the inaugural CHAP Ltd studentship at the University of Aberdeen Centre for Entrepreneurship. Ed McKeever, a mature student from Northern Ireland has returned to study after spending eight years running his own retail business in the US.
Mr McKeever explained: "The success of my small business in Boston made me eager to return to education and to share my commercial knowledge with other students. I was attracted to the University of Aberdeen by the reputation of its Business School and by its shared belief that it's vital to combine relevant life experience with academic study. The CHAP studentship will enable me to pursue my PhD with greater focus and with less financial anxiety. I'm really looking forward to getting started and to giving something back."
The University's Centre for Entrepreneurship was established in 1995 and expanded as a result of Scottish Enterprise funding. Initially offering Scotland's first undergraduate programme in entrepreneurship, the Centre has been further strengthened by the University as part of its commitment to developing centres of excellence in teaching and research. Last year over 400 students studied the subject with the teaching and research of entrepreneurship now forming one of four key specialist interests within the University's Department of Management Studies - alongside healthcare management, work/life balance and employee relations and organisational change and innovation.
Mr Alasdair Craigie, Chairman and Chief Executive of the CHAP Group of Companies based in Aberdeen said: "I am delighted to support the work of the University of Aberdeen Business School and particularly the Centre for Entrepreneurship with this new studentship. I am particularly pleased that a candidate with good hands-on business experience has been awarded and I wish Ed McKeever every success."