UCL signs up to Avanade's STEM scholarships for women

Women in STEM

Avanade has announced a new global scholarship programme to help women complete STEM degrees, with University College London among the first to take part.

The 15 for 15' initiative will award an initial 15 scholarships, to coincide with the firm's 15-year anniversary.

Applicants will be chosen based on a number of factors, but will be heavily slanted towards women trying to complete their degrees.

Avanade will allocate a total of almost $500,000 over the course of the programme, which it says will benefit at least 45 students across a period of five years.

It will also offer internships, mentoring and work experience as part of a dedicated support structure for recipients.

The first institutions to participate in the programme will be Britain's own UCL, alongside California State Polytechnic University and the University of Pretoria, based on their reputations for academic excellence in STEM fields.

Avanade CEO Adam Warby has championed the cause of getting women into tech.

"I am personally committed to ensuring our people and our clients recognise the value of encouraging young women to pursue an education and a career in the IT sector," he said.

"Students who may not necessarily have otherwise had the opportunity to finish their studies will benefit most greatly from this ongoing scholarship programme."

California State Polytechnic University's president, Soraya M. Coley, said: "Our learn-by-doing philosophy fits well with the goals of Avanade's 15 for 15 programme.

"The hands-on experiences, internships and mentoring our five recipients will receive is as important as the monetary award. We know the true impact of Avanade's generosity will be realised after graduation when these women make positive changes in their respective STEM fields."

It comes a week after BT expanded its Barefoot Computing programme to teach IT skills to 400,000 primary school children in the UK by 2016.

Adam Shepherd

Adam Shepherd has been a technology journalist since 2015, covering everything from cloud storage and security, to smartphones and servers. Over the course of his career, he’s seen the spread of 5G, the growing ubiquity of wireless devices, and the start of the connected revolution. He’s also been to more trade shows and technology conferences than he cares to count.

Adam is an avid follower of the latest hardware innovations, and he is never happier than when tinkering with complex network configurations, or exploring a new Linux distro. He was also previously a co-host on the ITPro Podcast, where he was often found ranting about his love of strange gadgets, his disdain for Windows Mobile, and everything in between.

You can find Adam tweeting about enterprise technology (or more often bad jokes) @AdamShepherUK.