CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA, Dec. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- De Beers Group is pleased to announce additional scholarship funding for Canadian women pursuing full-time studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects and STEM-related studies.
These scholarships are part of wider focus on gender equality by De Beers Group as a United Nations HeForShe Thematic Champion.
In 2019 De Beers Group will continue its partnerships with the University of Waterloo and the University of Calgary, while funding additional opportunities for study through a new partnership with Scholarships Canada. Funds received through Scholarships Canada may be applied to STEM undergraduate degree programs at any post-secondary institution in Canada.
This expanded program means there is now the equivalent of 67 years of scholarship funding being made available by De Beers Group to female students in these fields of study in Canada.
At the University of Waterloo, two one-year entrance scholarships were awarded in 2018. Six will be awarded in September 2019, with four more being awarded in each of September 2020 and September 2021. This means a total of 16 scholarships will be available to women at Waterloo through to 2021. Additional preference for these scholarships goes to Indigenous women from the Northwest Territories (NWT), Northern Ontario and Nunavut as these are the areas in which De Beers Group currently has Canadian mining operations and projects.
At the University of Calgary, 24 De Beers Group scholarships will be awarded overall. Six one-year entrance scholarships were granted in 2018, with six more to be awarded in 2019. Successful 2019 applicants will have the option to renew their funding for an additional two years based on academic performance. Additional preference for these scholarships also goes to Indigenous women from the Northwest Territories (NWT), Northern Ontario and Nunavut
In addition, nine new entrance scholarships that can be applied towards STEMs at any Canadian University will be made available in 2019 through Scholarships Canada. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to renew for an additional two years based on performance. Indigenous women from the Northwest Territories, northern Ontario and now Nunavut (following the recent acquisition by De Beers Canada of an advanced-stage exploration property on Baffin Island) will be encouraged to apply and pursue academic careers in STEMs and STEM-related studies.
De Beers Canada Chief Executive Officer Kim Truter said the partnerships with the University of Waterloo, the University of Calgary and Scholarship Canada are intended not only to attract more women into STEM fields, but also to set them up for success in their studies.
“Ensuring we had the right partners was very important for us, as we needed quality programs, a proven track record and institutions that understood the cultural component for applicants who may be applying from communities where we operate, most of which are remote,” said Truter. “By expanding the STEM-related course selection this year, we believe it will be a win-win for both the applicants and their communities, potentially providing new or enhanced capacity in some communities that may not currently exist.”
The expanded STEM-related programs eligible for study now include (among other fields):
- Nursing
- Medicine
- Accounting
- Information Technology
- Business Management
"We are very excited to be working with De Beers and UNOPS on this scholarship program. Our ScholarshipsCanada.com database has over 100,000 scholarships but very few are designated for Canadian female students interested in STEM programs. We look forward to helping make a significant and positive impact with these scholarships," says Chris Wilkins, Founder & CEO at The SchoolFinder Group | EDge Interactive.
The STEM scholarships are just one component of the De Beers Group-UN Women partnership that will see a total of more than US$600,000 invested by De Beers Group in Canada through 2020. Additional activities and investments are planned across Canada over the next three years.
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