Scholarships give women an opportunity to excel

Maggie Fryer, Dr Jacquie McDonald and Fiona Margetts from the Go WEST team

A number of new scholarships designed to give women in regional and rural communities a boost in the areas of Engineering, Surveying, Science, Maths and Technology have been launched by the Go Women in Engineering Science and Technology (Go WEST) team at USQ.

The Faculty of Engineering and Surveying and Equity and Social Justice scholarships are being offered exclusively to women in these fields of study, which are traditionally male focussed.

Go WEST team member Maggie Fryer said that the idea behind the initiative was also to offset some of the financial difficulties many face when undertaking study in regional and rural areas and offer them the same opportunities afforded to their metropolitan counterparts.

'There are women in these areas that are interested in studying Engineering, Surveying, Science, Maths and Technology but for financial reasons or different circumstances they are not able to do so,' Ms Fryer said.

'The scholarships will provide these women with financial assistance but also give them an opportunity that they normally wouldn’t receive.'

Those interested in the scholarships can apply for one of two Faculty of Engineering and Surveying scholarships, offered to women enrolling full-time, on-campus in the Bachelor of Engineering in Semester 2 and is valued at $4000 per year, awarded for one year initially.

Meanwhile those wishing to apply for an Equity and Social Justice Scholarship must be a female part-time off-campus student enrolled in any degree program majoring in the areas of Engineering (including Surveying), Science Maths or Technology.

'There are three Equity and Social Justice Scholarships on offer and each have a value of $2500 per year over four years and are also awarded for one year initially,' Ms Fryer said.

'We are very excited to be able to offer these opportunities to our female students and look forward to awarding the scholarships.'

Although this is the first year that the scholarships have been offered, the Go WEST team are hopeful that they will be awarded to students on an annual basis.

For more information on the scholarships visit this website or contact Fiona Margetts on 4631 1234 or by email at fiona.margetts@usq.edu.au 

Contact Details:
Josh Ada, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2559 or 0400 025 429