Google grant announcements

Minister for Education and Training, Christopher Pyne today welcomed Google’s initiative in providing grants to help promote science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) and computer science education.

Speaking at an event at Google Australia in Sydney, Minister Pyne said while up to 75 per cent of jobs in the fastest-growing industries require STEM skilled workers, there is a low uptake in the number of girls, Indigenous students and students from low-SES backgrounds undertaking mathematics and the ‘hard sciences’.

“It’s exciting to see that these grants will help students who often don’t keep studying STEM subjects in senior secondary or in post-secondary education,” Mr Pyne said.

“The three awardees - AIME, FIRST Robotics and Engineers Without Borders are all very worthy grant recipients.

“Each does an important job in working to close the gap in educational outcomes and have shown a demonstrated ability to reach Indigenous, under-privileged and female students and promote a passion for STEM through their programmes.

“The initiative being launched today shows Google’s commitment to something that is central to the Government’s agenda in school education — making sure Australians have the skills they need to participate in the modern and increasingly global workplaces of the future.

“This is something we can all work together on: governments, education authorities, schools, businesses and community organisations.

“Google’s initiative is contributing to this goal and the three very worthy grant winners we are celebrating today will make a significant contribution to this endeavour.

“I wish the recipients well in their projects.”