September 8, 2014
Addressing the imbalance: UOW and Westpac supporting women in technology
A new scholarship program is aimed at encouraging greater diversity in the technology sector.
Applications have now opened for technology scholarships to encourage more students to pursue a technology career and to address the gender imbalance and lack of diversity among Australian technology graduates.
The inaugural Westpac Bicentennial Foundation Young Technologists Scholarships, worth $5,000 a year for up to five years, will be awarded to six Year 12 students who have applied to study an undergraduate technology degree as a standalone or as part of a double degree program at University of Wollongong (UOW) from next year.
The UOW and Westpac partnership will help build a highly skilled local talent pool of graduates with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths, with the potential to become tomorrow’s innovators, entrepreneurs and decision-makers.
The number of Australian students taking up Information and Communications Technology (ICT) degrees has been declining over the past decade. Women account for less than one in five domestic students enrolled in ICT degrees in Australian institutions and make up a similarly low proportion of the ICT workforce.
And the gender gap is widening: since 2010 the number of domestic ICT enrolments has been trending upward while female participation in technology courses is declining.
By 2018 there will be close to a quarter of a million jobs in information and communications technology, according to the Department of Employment, and women can take on these roles to help correct a long-standing gender imbalance.
Studying ICT landed UOW graduate Veronica O’Gorman her “dream job” as an IT Graduate at the Reserve Bank of Australia and she says women are offered equal opportunities to develop their skills, gain qualifications and be considered for roles within the organisation.
“I have always had a passion for IT and throughout high school I would assist my father in his computer service company during school holidays and on weekends,” she said.
“My interests led me to undertake further studies at TAFE which provided a pathway and entry into UOW.”
In 2013 UOW had 2580 ICT students enrolled, the second-highest number for a New South Wales university, and in the top five Australia-wide.
The CEO of the Westpac Bicentennial Foundation, Susan Bannigan, said scholarships would be awarded to local students with the passion to bring about change through cutting-edge technology and innovation.
“We are looking for young people with a real spark for technology. We want to ensure the best and brightest students, regardless of background, are given the opportunity to contribute to the shape of technology in the future,” she said.
Industry leaders too are looking for innovative ways to build teams with greater diversity, experience and skills. Employers report that inclusion of women can promote more open and interactive communication, which can really help a team to work more effectively and efficiently.
Associate Professor Katina Michael, from UOW’s School of Information Systems and Technology, said an ICT degree provided knowledge and skills that were applicable across a host of occupations.
There is currently a strong demand for specialists in sub-disciplines such as cyber security, machine learning, computer and communication networking, large scale and distributed systems, mobile communications and computing and big data.
However, ICT is also increasingly becoming customer-focused and there is equal demand for employees with strong communication and interface skills that can work with technologists in the emerging areas of social, mobility, analytics and cloud computing.
“There are such a diverse range of jobs available in the ICT field. I've always said that graduating with an ICT degree means you are employable by any large or small company in just about any area of their business. ICT gives you the ability to work through everyday problems and reach solutions, and learn on the job at a rapid speed,” Professor Michael said.
“The Internet is creating new opportunities every single day and ICT students are among the most employable student base across sectors.”
Note to media: Data source: Department of Education - Higher Education Statistics Data Cube (uCube), which is based on the student and staff data collections.
More: Applications are open until 31 October. To apply visit: uow.edu.au/about/scholarships
Media contact: Grant Reynolds, Media & PR Officer, +61 2 4221 4743, +61 417 010 350 or grantr@uow.edu.au; or Keely O’Brien, Westpac Bicentennial Foundation, on +61 403 877 449 or keelyobrien@westpac.com.au.