Categories: News

Contract boosts science career opportunities for students

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1463" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;05&sol;SND15-wk1-science&period;&lowbar;jpg1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND15-wk1-science&period; jpg1" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"200" &sol;>More young people in South Auckland will have the opportunity to enter an exciting career in science&comma; following a recent contract win by COMET Auckland from the Ministry of Business&comma; Innovation and Employment&period; <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>COMET&comma; on behalf of the Auckland STEM Alliance&comma; is one of three groups around New Zealand to be awarded the MBIE &&num;8216&semi;Science in Society&&num;8217&semi; contract&period; Providers in Otago and Taranaki will also roll out the initiative&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Skills Manager for COMET Auckland and Secretariat of the Auckland STEM Alliance&comma; Shirley Johnson&comma; says&colon; &&num;8220&semi;We are delighted to have been awarded the MBIE contract for the Science in Society pilot project&comma; alongside our Taranaki and Otago counterparts&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ms Johnson says at present&comma; there is not enough being done to engage&comma; inspire and support young people into science careers&period; With STEM skills in high demand and skills shortages across New Zealand&comma; if this trend continues there will be insufficient science knowledge and skills to support future economic development and community well-being&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;For this exciting and much-needed initiative&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she says&comma; &&num;8220&semi;the Alliance will be the glue between young learners and authentic&comma; research-based experiences with scientists&comma; which we are confident will inspire and encourage the next generation of scientific minds and leaders&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Alliance has worked extremely hard for two years now&comma; to increase participation in STEM subjects at secondary and tertiary education levels in Auckland&comma; so the pilot project is a natural extension of our work&period; The more science conversations there are&comma; at home&comma; at school&comma; and in the community&comma; the more likely people are to consider science as a pathway for their future&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;new-chief-executive-for-education-council&sol;" title&equals;"Chief executive" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Chief executive<&sol;a> of COMET Auckland&comma; Susan Warren&comma; says&colon; &&num;8220&semi;As the backbone organisation of the Alliance&comma; COMET&&num;8217&semi;s 15 years of dedicated work in South Auckland means we have the community-level connections to ensure the MBIE&&num;8217&semi;s pilot Science in Society project is a success&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;With a third of New Zealand&&num;8217&semi;s population&comma; Auckland will produce at least a third of the nation&&num;8217&semi;s scientists&period; We&&num;8217&semi;re enthused and proud to be in a position where we can enhance the number of youth going into the science field&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Alliance steering group is made up of COMET Auckland&comma; Fisher &amp&semi; Paykel Healthcare&comma; NIWA&comma; Liggins Institute&comma; Plant and Food Research and the Auckland University Faculty of Science&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is also supported by a wide number of other science organisations&comma; schools and businesses&period; The Southern Initiative and ATEED have also partnered with the Alliance to expand the reach and depth of community and business networks supporting science education within South Auckland&period;<&sol;p><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.

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