Future Charles Sturt University students are being encouraged to apply for Transgrid’s engineering scholarships – a $2 million program aiming to boost the infrastructure workforce.
Applications are now open for 25 scholarships for first-year engineering students at the university’s Bathurst campus in 2024, under Transgrid’s Engineering Scholarship Fund.
The fund will support 100 engineering students at the university’s Bathurst campus between 2023 and 2026 to help grow a skilled workforce in regional Australia as the clean energy transition accelerates.
Executive General Manager of Major Projects, Gordon Taylor, said that Transgrid is delivering the critical infrastructure and priority projects identified by the Federal and New South Wales governments to enable Australia’s clean energy transition.
“Our major projects such as EnergyConnect, HumeLink and VNI West will require world-class engineering expertise and we are delighted to support the next generation of engineers to help build our skilled workforce as we enable Australia’s renewable energy transformation,” Mr Taylor said.
“I encourage prospective students to apply for a scholarship with each recipient to receive $20,000 over four years to help meet the costs associated with their study, living expenses and learning resources.”
The first 17 engineering scholarships were awarded earlier this year, with recipients hailing from New South Wales regional centres including Albury, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange, Port Macquarie and Wagga Wagga, as well as Victoria and Queensland.
Bachelor of Technology (Civil)/Master of Engineering (Civil) student, Olivia Tait, from Wagga Wagga, received a Transgrid scholarship to help with the cost of her studies, including travel to and from the Bathurst campus.
Ms Tait encouraged prospective engineering students to apply for a scholarship to help them realise their goal of becoming a professional engineer.
“Receiving the Transgrid engineering scholarship has really aided me in my studies and allowed me to focus more on my academic goals and progress my career goals,” Ms Tait said.
“I hope to become a professional engineer in the civil engineering field and make a positive change in the community and improve our community infrastructure.”
Charles Sturt Head of the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Engineering, Associate Professor Michael Kemp, said the Transgrid scholarships were a great addition to the paid internships already offered through the university’s engineering courses.
“A Transgrid scholarship will help a student in the earlier part of their course before the internship has started, with half the value being offered in the first year when it is most needed,” Professor Kemp said.
“This allows a student to fully engage from the beginning in the real world team based engineering challenges as well as starting the innovative and flexible ‘topic tree’, offered at Charles Sturt.”
Transgrid scholarships are open for commencing students undertaking a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Honours) or a Bachelor of Technology (Civil)/Master of Engineering (Civil) at Charles Sturt University.
Applications are now open for 2024, with the early bird round closing on 26 November and offers to go out on 12 December. Applications will remain open with a second round of offers to be made on 22 January.
Featured image: Transgrid scholarship recipients 2023. Image: Transgrid.
