CURTIN University's Associate Degree in Agribusiness has been offered 10 places in the Federal government's 2021 Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) program which subsidises employers who hire women enrolled in the course.
Eligible employers can receive up to $5000 in grants per year to support staff who are enrolled part-time in the Associate Degree in Agribusiness.
The Federal government has committed $24.8 million to the grant program, which supports women who are working in paid employment to study an industry-relevant, higher education Diploma, Associate Degree or Advanced Diploma in a STEM field.
Designed to recognise some of the costs associated with providing flexible working arrangements, such as releasing employees to study, there are no specific requirements for how the employer uses the grant amount.
Higher education providers participating in the four-year program are also awarded a grant to deliver the approved STEM programs.
Curtin University Discipline Lead Agriculture and Food Sarita Bennett said the grant program gave female students the opportunity to upskill while still remaining in employment.
"It is also an opportunity for students to see that their employers value their career development because they are being supported by the industry in which they're working as well," Ms Bennett said.
"It's important to have that balance of male and female perspectives in the industry, because if you have a workforce that is 100 per cent male you are only getting 50pc of the ideas, innovation and development that you could have into the future."
Ms Bennett said the ratio of male and female students enrolled in the Associate degree of Agribusiness sat at about 50:50 however, in the longer-term, enrolments had been slightly predominantly male.
"Despite this I think there are definitely more females going into some of the traditionally male roles like agronomy, whereas a lot of males are opting to go back to their farms.
"Also when looking at those research roles within the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development - my guess is that there would almost be a female dominance."
Farmco managing director Amanda Walker, who applied for the Women in STEM program for Farmco staff member Chanel Duggan, said she was always on the lookout for opportunities to train and upskill her employees.
"Chanel previously completed a traineeship with us and is very keen to progress her learning, so when we saw the grant program we thought it would be a great opportunity for her," Ms Walker said.
"At the moment she co-ordinates all of our customer service but wants to progress to be an animal health and nutritionist specialist and the Associate degree is unique in that she can study part time and it complements her existing work."
Ms Walker was still waiting to hear if the company had been successful in its grant application and said she would continue to look out for grant programs for her Farmco trainees to undertake additional specialised training.
"When you invest in training for an employee you take that risk they might leave once they've completed their training, but if we are successful, at least for the next four years while Chanel completes the program, we know she will be committed to us and keep contributing to our business," Ms Walker said.
"Ultimately the better our employees skills are, the better service we can provide to our clients and the better outcomes we will have for our business."
The Women in STEM program has approved awarding of grants to support nearly 600 women across Australia with a total of 18 higher education providers approved to deliver 37 courses.
At the time of writing the Federal government was in the process of confirming the details of providers' and employers' participation in the program and implementing the necessary deeds of agreement.
- More information: email stacey.carter@ curtin.edu.au or Sarita.Bennett@ curtin.edu.au