Monash's scholarship initiative aims to target the gender imbalance in IT

19 September 2000

Monash University's Faculty of Information Technology is devoting over $125,000 to help combat the gender imbalance of postgraduate IT students.

In 2001, the Faculty will be offering 15 full-time scholarships for women wishing to pursue postgraduate studies in Information Technology.

Faculty Manager, Ken Hobbs says that the Faculty came up with the initiative because women have been one of the groups most affected by the introduction of full-fees for postgraduate studies. "In general, only about one in five IT students are women," says Mr Hobbs.

Statistics collated by Monash University demonstrate that there is a serious gender imbalance in postgraduate enrolments. Statistics from the March 31, 2000 show that of the 1,535 students enrolled in IT programmes at Monash only 544 were female.

The Faculty scholarships will be predominantly targeted at three groups:

  • those who wish to advance their career in IT
  • women seeking to change their career to IT
  • women who are returning to the workforce

Monash's Faculty of Information Technology offers over 20 different programmes at postgraduate level alone. In 2001 a new course, the Master of Applied Information Technology will be introduced. Students will gain knowledge in a variety of areas in IT ranging from programming to networking technology.

Mr Hobbs says that while some of 15 scholarships will be offered to women studying the new course, those who pursue other programmes offered by the Faculty will also be eligible for a scholarship.

Monash University has granted the Faculty five of the15 scholarships whereby scholarship holders will pay HECS rather than full fees. The remaining ten scholarships are funded entirely by the Faculty and only require scholarship holders to pay the university's general service fee.

Mr Hobbs says the number of scholarships that will be awarded in 2001 may vary depending on whether scholarship holders study part-time or full-time. "If everyone who takes the scholarship decides to study on a part-time basis, it will mean that we can offer up to 30 part-time scholarship places, " says Mr Hobbs.

At this stage an eligibility criteria for the scholarships has not yet been finalised, however Mr Hobbs says that the Faculty will be looking at a range of determinants such as financial background and "Obviously the main criteria is you have to be a female."

The Faculty of Information Technology is hoping to offer scholarships of this nature on an ongoing basis However, each year it plans to target different sectors of the population.

For further information on the courses offered by the Faculty of Information Technology, visit http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au

For further information on the scholarship programme please contact the Manager - Admissions and International Operations, Ms Sonja Smith on (03) 9903 32426.