Quotezone Fintech Scholarship to give a boost to thriving UK industry

A new survey by Quotezone.co.uk found that despite the UK being a global leader in fintech, a whopping 77% of students have never considered a job in the fintech industry.

Before applications open for the scholarship programme, the company has asked students from across the UK about their university experience and their perception of the fintech sector.

The survey, of 500 students, carried out by Quotezone.co.uk, found that a whopping 77% of UK students have never considered a career in the fintech sector, despite it contributing £11bn to the UK economy and employing over 76 000 people at 1,600 firms across the UK, a number expected to double by 2030.*

36% of respondents said this was due to a lack of education and awareness of the fintech sector and what it entails.

A further 26% of students surveyed said they had not considered a job in fintech due to a lack of relevant experience and 25% of students surveyed said 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 of the talent shortage.

The Quotezone fintech scholarship aims to raise awareness of the sector in the UK by asking students to explore what fintech can offer them as a career and enter a short blog or vlog post about what the next generation sees as the future of the industry.

The successful candidate will receive a £1,000 bursary which can be used to cover part of their study costs, course materials or other living costs, as well as the opportunity 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 major talent shortage and lack of awareness of the sector, which is reflected in our survey results.

“The fintech sector in the UK offers great opportunities for graduates from all industry backgrounds, not only do we want to demonstrate the potential of this but we also want to give the winning student real, practical career experience to help discover what it would be like to working in such a thriving sector.

“We need talented young talent from across the curriculum in England, Scotland and Wales to fill these roles and create teams with diverse skills – creating key change and driving innovation within the sector. I would strongly encourage students from across the UK 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 – which highlighted the important role of fintech in the small business sector and Ella Henry, an MPhil student studying biological sciences at the University of Cambridge, who wrote a piece with the title – 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 information on how to apply is available here. There will be one winner from the UK and one winner from Northern Ireland, run via Quotezone’s sister company, CompareNI.com.