ECU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Regional Futures) Professor Cobie Rudd thrilled with new scholarship opportunities for the region.
ECU has been awarded a $1.4million grant to deliver 25 scholarships at its South West campus, commencing in 2023.
In awarding the Destination Australia 2023 grant to the University, Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare commended ECU on its commitment to supporting regional Australia and encouraging growth in one of our great regions.
ECU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Regional Futures) Professor Cobie Rudd said the 2023 grant was a great win for the region and would enable ECU South West to offer 25 scholarships, 20 for domestic and 5 for international students.
"The 2023 grant is almost three times what we had last year, so it will really help build enrolments into key areas where local employers are seeking graduates," said Professor Rudd.
"This federal support enables us to prioritise domestic students in the greatest need of support in accessing tertiary education in regional Australia, so we can engage with those students from underrepresented groups such as low socio−economic status, those who are first in family to tertiary study, those living with a disability and First Nations people."
Professor Rudd explains that the grant will also focus on domestic and international students studying courses that fill skills shortages that align with the Australian Government's National Skills Priority List, such as Nursing and Midwifery, Education including Early Childhood Teaching and Social Work, and excitingly, in areas of future needs such as multimedia specialists, web developers and programmers, network and software engineers, cyber security analysts, governance and risk specialists.
As well, ECU South West is in the process of establishing a University Department of Rural Health, funded by the Commonwealth Government which will provide hundreds of new clinical learning opportunities across all health disciplines.
Minister Clare wrote to ECU Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve Chapman to congratulate the University on its Destination Australia 2023 grant success, noting that the program had attracted significant interest that well exceeded the number of scholarships awarded.
The Minister said he also wanted to congratulate Edith Cowan University for supporting education in regional Australia, saying he was looking forward to working with ECU on this exciting program.
For more information on applying for an ECU Destination Australia Scholarship.
