I am 28 years old and was born and raised on the tiny island of Malta in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

Our education system in Malta is very similar to the one here in the UK, however Malta being such a small country doesn’t have many resources to cater for specialised subjects – including animation. Thus the obvious choice was to apply for a university in the UK. The MA in 3D Animation course at Bournemouth was on top of my list and considering the reputation of the university in the subject area, I was really ecstatic when I was offered a place on the course.

As soon as I was offered a place at BU I started looking at various scholarship opportunities and among others I applied for the Media School Dean’s Scholarship. The askBU team was also very helpful in guiding me to the BU website and scholarship opportunities. I was super excited when I was awarded the scholarship which meant that the course fee was now half funded by the university. This gave me a new boost both financially and emotionally. I was really grateful that BU believed in my potential and offered this support which undoubtedly eased the financial weight from my shoulders. This also meant that I could now worry a bit less about funding my studies and focus more on making the most of my experience at BU.

My experience at BU has so far been really positive and student life is great. Thankfully the course is very well connected with the industry and it prepares us for our future careers. This is also complimented with weekly visits from industry professionals who come and share their experiences with us. Our course coordinators and staff are really helpful and are all genuinely interested in the students and their work. Staff members are always available and ready to offer their support and I do actually feel that I am getting a lot from the course. Furthermore our studio setup is very similar to the industry setup – each student has a personal work station with all latest high end industry standard software. Thanks to the scholarship I know that I can focus all my time on the course without worrying too much on finding a part time job to support me financially. I can dedicate all my time to learning new software and practices.

Some of Emanuel’s work:

My advice for any prospective students would be to apply for as many scholarships and funding opportunities as possible. Funding your own studies can be hard and thus taking the time to fill in a very good application is very important. Hopefully it will eventually pay off. Don’t be afraid to seek help and guidance. BU staff are always very happy to help. I only came to live in Bournemouth when the course started in September but thanks to the superb support and resourceful website I was able to apply and submit everything online.

I am really grateful for this opportunity and would encourage any students to apply for scholarships; they’re really helpful and will make your experience at BU even better. Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank BU, askBU, the Media School and all my lecturers, course coordinators and tutors for their support and guidance.

By Emanuel Bonnici