Four agribusiness scholarships, to the secondary school at the forefront of New Zealand’s first academic-based agribusiness programme, will be on offer at Fieldays this year.
St Paul’s Collegiate School in Hamilton will be speaking with Fieldays-goers about the School’s four agribusiness scholarships on offer to senior students who show an interest in agribusiness but may not have the financial means to attend the school.
The Donny Charitable Trust, a Waikato-based charity that supports agricultural training, is funding the scholarships which will be on offer from 2017 onwards.
Jon Tanner, a trustee of Donny Trust, said the group was providing financial backing for the scholarships because it believes St Paul’s has the potential to positively impact the skills shortage in the primary industries.
“St Paul’s agribusiness initiative addresses a key issue for the sector; the struggle to attract young people to careers in agriculture. This programme has the potential to make a significant and positive impact. It will attract New Zealand’s brightest and best to a career in agriculture,” Tanner said.
In recent years, St Paul’s has worked closely with key industry leaders – DairyNZ and Beef+LambNZ – and the Ministry of Education to develop NCEA Level 2 and 3 achievement standards in Agribusiness that will, in time, lead to New Zealand Scholarship. Universities have swung their support in behind the initiative too.
St Paul’s Deputy Headmaster Peter Hampton said the academically rigorous course exposes students to the wide range of skills required and opportunities available through carefully chosen subject areas, the school’s strong relationship with industry leaders and experiential learning.
“Students study everything from agri-science to future proofing, agri-finance and management, growing value and international trade,” Hampton explained. “Within these areas, they apply examples of industry ‘best practice’ to conceptual learning within the classroom.”
Currently the programme is offered exclusively at St Paul’s at NCEA Levels 2 and 3. However, the new achievement standards will be available to all New Zealand secondary schools in 2018.
Applications for the Agribusiness Scholarships at St Paul’s close 31 August each year.
Those interested in learning more about the scholarships on offer at St Paul’s can visit the school at Fieldays – sites PD3 and PD5.
