Eva Baldwin

Eva, who is pursuing her ambition to be a midwife having stepped away from a career in insurance, was awarded with a £1,000 scholarship for outstanding academic achievement.  

“This is my second year of being awarded a scholarship,” said Eva, who is in the second year of her Midwifery degree. “It is satisfying to be recognised for good work, and I feel motivated to do well in the next year of my studies.”  

The University of Worcester was recommended to Eva, who completed a year-long Foundation course, which has then been integrated into a full four-year degree.  

“I have found my time at the University so far very enjoyable,” said the mother-of-two. “I decided to study a foundation year, which I found invaluable in terms of preparing me for university-level studies. There is so much academic support, especially from the writers in residence [who provide academic writing support] and academic writing and study skills lectures, which helped me to get where I am now. And, of course, there is support from my lecturers and my peers.” 

It was the birth of her second child that inspired Eva to pursue a career as a midwife. “It was just amazing and the support I received from the midwives inspired me to look into it,” said Eva. From there, she started volunteering on a maternity ward and eventually gave up her work for an insurance company to qualify as a midwife. In order to get on the course, Eva who is originally from Slovakia, needed to get GCSEs as her own historic qualifications were not sufficient. She spent a year therefore getting her Maths and English GCSEs.    

“It was a journey to get to this point,” said Eva. “I wanted to be a midwife so I wanted to go for it - I didn't want to have regrets. Something was telling me to go for it, don’t be scared.” 

Eva manages her studies around caring for her children and part-time work in a hospital maternity ward, and says, although it has been tough at times to fit everything in and she has had to make sacrifices, her family have been really supportive.