Information technology students from UTS crowded the dais when the Australian Computer Society (ACS) Foundation recently awarded 50 ICT university scholarships to students from NSW universities at NSW Parliament House.

Minister for Small Business David Campbell presided over a ceremony that saw 28 scholarships, sponsored by donors including IBM and Microsoft, awarded to UTS undergraduate and postgraduate students from the Faculties of IT and Engineering.

These included eight UTS Dean's Scholarships, jointly sponsored by the ACS Foundation and the UTS Faculty of IT.

UTS Faculty of IT Associate Dean (Education), Associate Professor David Wilson, said the scholarship result was testament to how relevant UTS IT education had remained to the needs of industry, despite the pressure placed on all Australian IT faculties by a drop in student demand in recent years.

"Most of the scholarships received by UTS students were the highly competitive Work Integrated Learning scholarships, for which they receive a tax-free scholarship of about $28,000 and 12 months practical industry experience in one of the prominent IT sponsoring companies," Professor Wilson said.

"These scholarships are promoted across the state so competition is strong.

"The ACS Foundation recognises the quality of UTS IT students and donates funds to the Faculty for the Dean's ACS Foundation scholarships. These award a generous $3000 to first year students doing the Bachelor of Science in IT and some postgraduate programs."

ACS Foundation Executive Director, Mr John Ridge, said a record level of scholarship funding this year reflected strong support from corporate Australia for the Foundation's ground-breaking scholarship programs, which matched university-level talent with real-world opportunities.

"ACS Foundation programs can provide corporations with the professional experience that they are searching for, as students are given relevant industry experience and are placed in the right kind of roles within the technology sector," Mr Ridge said.

"This in turn helps encourage talented young professionals to remain within the Australian ICT industry over the long-term, which helps address the skills shortages – a problem that our nation is currently facing.

"We look forward to seeing these students working as top professionals in their chosen field for many years to come," he said.

IBM donated 31 of the 50 scholarships that were awarded, with other NSW-based scholarship donors being CA (Computer Associates), Compuware, the Graphic Arts Merchants Association of Australia, IDG Communications, Microsoft, the NSW Department of Education and Training, Novell and UTS.