Scholarships provided by Toowoomba City Council offer an income supplement and work experience for tertiary students as well as produce valuable work for Council. Each year, Council offers two work experience scholarships for University of South Queensland students.
Running over a two year period, the scholarships provide recipients with $2,500 per annum and 40 days work experience in their chosen field. From Council’s viewpoint the scholarships serve several purposes. Strategic Environment Officer, Piet Filet, said the program saves Council time, provides valuable information, and can help with long term planning.
It also reinforces Council’s commitment to providing training and employment opportunities. He said that Councils are generally focused on day to day operations and often do not have the time available to carry out detailed investigations.
“In Local Government there is a need to move on and have things happening, sometimes at the cost of not really exploring an issue as much as you might like,” he said. “In Toowoomba we have initiated a major program to upgrade all our waterways and streams. The students’ work has provided much more detail than we could have done at this stage.”
Piet said that another advantage of the program is the opportunity to forge links with tertiary institutions.
“Local Government is increasingly moving to greater professionalism particularly in the areas of biology and science,” he said. “We are being asked to manage much more of the environment and need more professional and academic partnerships.
“The scholarship holders also take back a better knowledge and understanding of Local Government work to the community and tertiary institutions.”
For further information contact Piet Filet, telephone (07) 4688 6720.
