More than 20 mature students have been awarded bursaries worth a total of £20,000 to study at Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) this year.
The 24 successful students were selected from an 'unprecedented' 84 applications for the Change Your Path Bursary scheme, the college said.
The scheme aims to ease the transition for those returning to study as mature students aged 25 or over.
More than half of the successful applications this year were from students studying Wildlife and Conservation Management.
Other applications, which are worth £1,000 for full-time students or £500 for part-time students, were from those studying Animal Care, Horticulture, and Rural Business Management.
Most of the applicants are studying HNC or HND courses, SRUC said, and the bursary awards were evenly distributed among the college's numerous campuses.
Hannah D'Mellow, student recruitment manager said: “We had an unprecedented 84 applications for the Change Your Path Bursary this year.
“I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the stories over the next few months, and in the campaign for the bursary next year.”
Mature students looking to change their career or re-train can apply for SRUC’s Change Your Path Bursary.
Applicants must be aged 25 or over by 31 August, and be enrolled on an HNC, HND, undergraduate degree or distance learning PgDip/MSc course in September.
They must also be studying full time or part time, which is defined as studying at least 50% of the full time programme in this academic year.
