Media releases

Federation University Australia and IBM have announced the recipients of IBM’s annual IT scholarship program.

Twenty-one selected students commencing their second year of study for a Bachelor of Information Technology degree at the university will receive a $35,000 individual scholarship.

The scholarship supports students who are studying in-demand skills needed for Australia’s digital future such as artificial intelligence, cloud, high performance computing and cyber-security.

The partnership with FedUni and IBM will help to ensure that Australian students are job-market ready, and have the necessary skills to meet the fast growing demand for what IBM terms ‘new collar jobs’.

“The University treasures its relationship with IBM, which dates back to 1994,” Professor Helen Bartlett, Vice-Chancellor, said.

“We thank IBM for facilitating this scholarship program and for their long-standing support of our students since 2001.”

“Awarding these scholarships confirms IBM’s genuine commitment in creating jobs which will be highly sought after in Australia’s digital future. 

“New collar jobs, rather than the traditional concept of blue collar or white collar jobs will be critical to address the speed of change in business and technology,” Dee McGrath, Managing Partner of Global Business Services, IBM Australia and New Zealand, said.  

As part of the scholarship program students will receive mentoring, gain supervised hours of workplace experience with IBM and other industry partners, and will be first in line with IBM opportunities after graduation,” Dee McGrath said.

“This is an innovative program that has been developed in conjunction with the IT industry to produce graduates who have an appreciation of the culture of work as an IT professional,” Professor Bartlett said.

“Since the program’s inception IBM has invested well over $7 million in scholarships with more than 200 students successfully graduating, many of whom have gone on to full time employment with IBM in Ballarat.”

“IBM continues to have a strong commitment to Ballarat. Through our IT scholarships and also our ongoing PTECH program integrating school studies with IT skills, we believe we are investing in building the technology skills of today’s young people for the work force of tomorrow,” Dee McGrath said.

The award recipients this year are David Myers, Thomas Hogg, Andrew Greig, Corey Page, Lucas Smith, Jordan Ribbink, Jorrod Michell, Joseph Thorpe, Samuel Rasmussen, Samuel Pike, Darryl Wall, Beau Nieuwveld, Thomas Bannister, David Hagan, Scott Ryan, Daniel Cooper, Kewen Ding, Thomas Brooks, Joshua Power, Jordan Thomas and Benjamin Skelly.

Picture: Professor Helen Bartlett with IBM’s Dee McGrath and scholarship recipients