30 October 2002 'Mature students' tie for HP scholarship

"Mature students" Sean Richards and John Good, both studying for Bachelor of Applied Computing degrees, are the Lincoln University co-winners of this year's HP Scholarship for Excellence in Software Engineering.

The scholarship, previously known as the Compaq award, gives the co-­winners $1000 each.

Sean and John have both had earlier careers – Sean in carpentry and boatbuilding and John in town planning.

"Papers in Applied Computing, taken as part of a degree or graduate diploma, have attracted a large number of mature students in recent years, ' says Senior Lecturer Dr Clare Churcher, "and in general they do extremely well."

"We have had scientists, printers, librarians, teachers, roofers, psychologists, policemen and others all coming into Applied Computing at Lincoln and the outside experience these older students bring to the class is very beneficial. It lifts the general level of discussion in classes as these students can relate what they are learning to experiences they have had in their previous jobs."

Sean says that on returning to New Zealand after a long time overseas he started doing a science degree. Along the way he picked up a computing paper and it "sparked" his interest. From there it was into Applied Computing at Lincoln.

John worked as a town planner in Marlborough and Nelson and says he has had a long-term interest in computing and the Lincoln degree appealed because it was related to "real life" work.

"The hardest part of coming to degree studies later in life is throwing away your job security, but I enjoy studying and for me the move has been very worthwhile," he says.

The co-winners believe that in the long term their decision to do an applied computing degree as mature students will pay career dividends.

Dr Churcher agrees that giving up a job or putting a job on hold in order to gain a university qualification in Applied Computing can open up new career opportunities. HP, for example, have employed a number of Lincoln graduates and diploma holders.

In presenting the scholarships, HP's Applications Development Centre Manager in Christchurch, Dr Jeff Wilkinson, said it was a privilege to have a continued association with Lincoln University's Applied Computing course and see first-hand the calibre of those coming through to graduation.

There is usually only one HP Scholarship awarded at Lincoln University annually but this year due to the general excellence of all the candidates it was impossible to single out one winner, so two shared the prize.

Both Sean and John plan to go on to higher qualifications. John to an honours year with a software engineering focus and Sean to a masters degree with a scientific modelling emphasis.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.