A FORMER student at Altrincham Grammar School for Girls is making her mark in the male dominated world of engineering.

Clare Zhou is one of an elite set of engineering students who has been awarded a Diamond Jubilee Scholarship by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

The Diamond Jubilee Scholarships have been handed out to students who achieved at least 3 ‘As’ in their A-Levels or Advanced Highers and have accepted a place on an IET accredited engineering or technology degree course this autumn.

This year, 100 scholarships have been awarded to students who started either a masters or an undergraduate engineering degree at a UK based university in the autumn of 2016, and 51 per cent of these have been awarded to female candidates.

Clare, aged 19, is now studying engineering at Cambridge University.

Jeremy Watson, IET president, said: “In a world where technology is moving faster than ever before, I believe we need to think more broadly and remove unnecessary barriers that might be discouraging more young people from becoming engineers. In other words, we need to be more inclusive about inspiring and recruiting the next generation of engineers.

“With this in mind, we are really pleased to give financial help to over 100 young people as a result of our prestigious Diamond Jubilee scholarships. We hope that they will go on to become the leaders of tomorrow in an industry which offers a diverse range of exciting opportunities and challenges.”

The investment is being made in collaboration with the Belling Charitable Settlement, the ERA Foundation, The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Siemens, BAE Systems and BT.

This contribution to students is further evidence of the IET’s ongoing commitment to minimising the skills gap by encouraging talented students to study IET accredited courses, which will put them on a path that is not only challenging and rewarding, but is also vital to the UK economy.”