Funding Bursaries to Transform Lives


When the 16-year-old Stuart McLeod (PPE, 2014, Lonsdale) joined the RAF as an apprentice with a handful of GCSEs to his name, he found it easier to imagine himself in the working world and the rigid structures of the armed forces than to survive academically as a student at university.


Now as a Lancaster University graduate in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE), also with a master’s to his name, Stuart is a Senior Energy and Sustainability Manager for Balfour Beatty, working across some of the UK’s largest national infrastructure projects. Stuart is funding bursaries to help service personnel and others like himself to transform their lives at Lancaster as he says it did for him.


Only two years after he left Lancaster, at the age of only 29, he started to fund the scholarships for mature undergraduate students aged 21 or over in any discipline, to offer assistance to students who might otherwise struggle to complete their course, or who might not choose to attend the university through lack of funding.


“I had a fantastic experience at Lancaster,” enthuses Stuart. “I think I emerged more polished. I came out of the air force with military skills and confidence, but I came out of university with a wider view of the world, better social skills and an ambition to aim higher than I would have done before.


‘My little bit of help is to encourage mature students, who are on the fence about whether to go to university for financial reasons, to take the plunge.”


He left The Harvey Grammar School in Kent and joined the RAF at 16 as an apprentice aircraft maintenance mechanic, with seven GCSEs, but no confidence in his own abilities or motivation to do A levels. University was definitely not on his radar.


But seven years with the RAF - including two tours to Afghanistan and a five-week posting to Kenya - saw him develop the skills and confidence to take responsibility for maintaining aircraft avionics and electrical systems. Learning and reading started to interest him on postings abroad which led to an Open University course.


When he left the RAF on medical grounds, the more established route would have seen him pursue a role with a civilian airline working on aircraft avionics, but his new found confidence led him to decide to ‘take the plunge and risk’ going to university.


20 | STEPS 2025


His choice was pragmatic. Lancaster was the top-ranking university to accept him and he did not visit until he arrived there for ‘Fresher’s Week.’


“I loved it,” he recalls. “I had lived in barracks for six years so living in halls and getting to know new people was an easy transition. There were many similarities with life in the forces - sharing space with others and being with groups of young people. But the big difference for me was being left to my own devices. Being able to decide when to get up, go to a lecture or when to work.”


He was classed as a mature student, but does not feel it acted as a barrier with his fellow students. He was quick to tell them that they had ‘got it right the first time’ academically, whilst he was making the most of his chance to catch up.


He chose to study PPE, because his experience in the forces had put him at the sharp end of politics.


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