First 50 Students in Lincolnshire Benefit from Quickline’s New Bursary

At the start of this year Quickline, which is building a rural gigabit broadband network across parts of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire (England), announced that they and the Lincolnshire Institute of Technology (LIoT) would support 500 students through a bursary scheme (i.e. money to help with study, travel and childcare costs). The first 50 students have now benefitted from this.

The bursary was setup to support students from “underrepresented groups“, including mature students, parents, people from low-income families, people with a disability and people who were previously in care. Students who meet these criteria and are enrolled on level 4 and 5 courses will be eligible for the funds.

The bursary support for LIoT forms part of the social value commitment made by Quickline as part of its Project Gigabit contracts. Apparently, each of the first 50 students to benefit from this has received a grant of up to £1,000 for things such as laptops, headphones, desk chairs and cameras, as well as travel expenses and course fees.

Julian Chalk, Head of Engagement and Enablement at Quickline, said:

“It’s great to hear that the bursary has already benefited 50 students who are studying technical subjects across Lincolnshire.

We’re big on accessibility and inclusivity, and it’s a key part of what we do – connecting rural communities that have been left behind by other providers. Now, we’re not only ensuring everyone has access to decent broadband but we’re also ensuring that everyone has access to the education they need to thrive in a STEM career.”

Over the next three years, Quickline’s rollout is aiming to extend gigabit-capable broadband to a further 360,000 premises across thousands of rural communities (roughly 170k via state aid projects and almost 200k from commercial builds). To date, the company has already invested more than £107m into rural areas. But before that, the provider hopes to end 2025 with a total of 200,000 premises passed.

Residential customers reached by their new full fibre network are typically charged from £22 per month on a 24-month term for 100Mbps (50Mbps upload) speeds with free installation, which goes up to £49 for their top 1000Mbps symmetric speed tier (you also get the first 8 months of service for free on their top tier).