12 May 2008 'Exceptionally high' standard of scholarship applicants

 

Industry support for scholarships such as the Agricom/CRT Seed award is "valued and valuable", says Lincoln University's Scholarships Manager Jane Edwards.

"Companies such as CRT who are co-providers of the Agricom/CRT Seed Scholarship play a major role in maintaining the 'intellectual capital' of New Zealand's agricultural sector, which in tum keeps us internationally competitive and at the forefront of countries with agriculturally based economies.

"The scholarships are valued by the students - both as sources of financial assistance in their studies and as prestigious reference points on their CV' s when they go out into the workforce.

"Equally," says Jane, "they are valuable to the University because they indicate a good two-way industry connection with an area covered by our teaching and research."

The fourth award of the Agricom/CR T Seed Scholarships took place at Lincoln University at the end of March and this year's recipients were Hamish Wright, from Cannington, South Canterbury, and Nicola Batchelor from Canterbury's Selwyn District.

Representing CRT Seed at the presentation was Divisional Manager Daryl Jordan, and joining him from Agricom was National Sales and Marketing Manager Dave Green.

The two industry representatives were impressed with the "strong group of applicants" this year and said the standard was "exceptionally high".

Demand for graduates is competitive strong right across the primary industry sector, they said, and this can often make it difficult to recruit staff. Supporting tertiary study with scholarships was "one way of ensuring a pool of talent out there".

"Our general aim with the scholarships is to support the industry in general," they said, "and to keep our company names in front of graduates so that when they complete their studies and start looking for jobs they will remember us."

This year's two Agricom/CRT Seed Scholars, Hamish Wright and Nicola Batchelor, are studying BCom (Agriculture) and Bachelor of Agricultural Science degrees respectively.

Hamish is a past pupil of Waitaki Boys' High School, Oamaru, and Nicola is a former student at Ellesmere College, Leeston.