news campusreview . com . au
Teisha Damman winner of the Adrian Di Marco Women in Software Development scholarship ( R ). Picture : supplied .
Upskill and diversify
More places for STEM and how to increase women ' s participation
By Erin Nixon
Australian government and industry are coming together to invest in upskilling and diversifying the future workforce in STEM disciplines .
The federal government announced in early September that universities can now apply for the 4,000 Commonwealth Supported Places ( CSPs ) designed to attract prospective graduates in science , technology , engineering and mathematics ( STEM ).
The $ 128.5m investment will fund the additional university places over four years and is designed to prepare more STEM graduates for a modern Australian workforce .
South Australian universities will receive 800 of the 4,000 CSPs as part of the Cooperation Agreement between the Commonwealth and the state to meet the needs of the AUKUS submarine program .
“ We need more young Australians studying STEM subjects and developing the skills we need for the AUKUS program ,” education minister Jason Clare said .
“ These additional university places will give more Australians a crack at a career in STEM .”
INCREASING AND DIVERSIFYING THE SKILLS WORKFORCE
Contrary to popular belief , there are more career pathways into a STEM career than traditional higher education degrees .
The federal government ’ s Fee-Free TAFE has led to a huge increase in recent enrolments in technology , digital , and sovereign capability courses . These are designed to ‘ train , retrain or upskill Australians and tackle skills shortages ’.
STEM careers have traditionally been male-dominated ; according to Deloitte Access Economics Australia ’ s STEM Workforce : A Survey of Employers , women comprise only 31 per cent of the Australian tech industry .
The federal government set a target to grow Australia ’ s tech workforce to 1.2m by 2030 , with this increased workforce having to come from diverse cohorts – particularly women .
One government initiative to help achieve this is Australia ’ s Women in STEM Ambassador . The Office of Women in STEM Ambassador program is headed up by Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith , who was appointed in 2018 ‘ to grow Australia ’ s
The $ 128.5m investment will fund the additional university places over four years and is designed to prepare more STEM graduates for a modern workforce .
skilled workforce by removing structural barriers to participation ’.
Swinburne University has partnered with Australian tech company TechnologyOne on the Adrian di Marco Women in Software Development annual scholarship to encourage more women to explore careers in software development . The scholarship is named for the founder of the company who was a pioneer in enterprise resource planning ( ERP ) software .
Teisha Damman has won the inaugural scholarship . She hopes to work in cyber security and help create safer environments online .
Ms Damman started her Bachelor of ICT at Swinburne and will receive $ 30,000 towards her tuition over the next three years . Submission deadlines for the 2024 scholarship have not been confirmed . ■
2