BlueScope Steel invests in skills for the future
28 Aug 2007 | Bernie Goldie
BlueScope Steel Limited is making a significant contribution to the education of young people in the Wollongong area with the announcement of an educational partnership with the government-funded International Centre of Excellence for Education in Mathematics (ICE-EM) and the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI), with support from the University of Wollongong.
The proposed program will involve four clusters of secondary and primary schools from the Illawarra region.
It is expected more than 2,600 students in primary Years 5 and 6 and secondary Year 7 will benefit from the program, which will provide state-of-the-art mathematics teaching resources and professional development for mathematics teachers.
The Chair of AMSI/ICE-EM Board, Dr Jim Lewis, welcomed the partnership and acknowledged BlueScope Steel for its foresight.
“BlueScope Steel is to be commended for taking a tangible step towards ensuring that it will have a potential future workforce equipped for the needs of modern industry.
“Improved capability in mathematics will be an increasing requirement for all levels of the workforce. This will be especially so in high technology companies like BlueScope Steel if they are to continue to be industry leaders and competitive exporters into the future,” Dr Lewis said.
The Director of ICE-EM, Professor Garth Gaudry, said: “We applaud BlueScope Steel’s initiative in providing students in the Illawarra with the opportunity to benefit from the ICE-EM Mathematics program. I welcome this important business and education partnership.”
About 50 representatives from schools throughout the region and from UOW’s School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics are today (August 28) attending an information session at UOW at the invitation of BlueScope Steel, ICE-EM and AMSI.
Schools interested in being part of the ICE-EM Mathematics Program will be asked to submit an Expression of Interest. The successful schools will be notified in October and the program will start in the 2008 school year.
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