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Scholarships to Lift Student Numbers15/07/2008 00:05The lure of scholarship dollars is being used to attract students to study IT, as the industry tackles dwindling graduate numbers. The Australian Computer Society Foundation, the main scholarship facilitator focused exclusively on the technology sector, expects to award about 300 scholarships, worth more than $5 million, this year. "We are looking to build that up to between $10 million and $20 million worth of scholarships a year," ACS Foundation executive director John Ridge said. The ACS Foundation awarded between 20 and 30 scholarships worth a total of $1 million in May. "We have some scholarships going for between $40,000 and $50,000, but there is a combination," Mr Ridge said. The scholarships, supported by public and private donors, are awarded to undergraduate and postgraduate students. "The foundation was established to help students get relevant industry experience so they would be more work-ready than a graduate straight out of a university course," Mr Ridge said. The University of Queensland last week announced plans to boost the dollar value of its ICT Enabling Scholarships by 50 per cent in 2009. The scholarships are for school leavers entering an IT, multimedia design or ICT-related engineering degree course. The ICT Enabling Scholarships began this year to equip school leavers to undertake ICT studies. Queensland University awarded 23 of the scholarships in 2008. School of IT and Electrical Engineering head Paul Bailes said the scholarships would rise to $3000 next year as a result of support by the university and industry partners. "Recipients can do whatever they like with it, but we have decided the amount based on what we think will buy them a nice state-of-the-art computer and some software," Professor Bailes said. The demand for ICT courses at the university this year is up by 40 per cent on last year. The university also offers a merit-based scholarship package for students starting university in 2009. The academic scholarships program is valued at more than $1.6 million in 2009 and will grow to $4 million in the next five years. It is designed to support high-achieving undergraduate students in all faculties.
Jennifer Foreshew, Australian IT | July 15, 2008
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