Grants push envelope on STEM for women

British Council Hongkong has partnered up with Newcastle University in the United Kingdom to launch an inaugural female scholarship program here with the aim of inspiring and supporting women pursuing STEM studies.

"Science, technology, engineering and math are often illustrated as 'boy's subjects,' but girls are also capable of that,"Susannah Morley, the council's director, told The Standard.

Thanks to support from the Sir Tang Siu Kin Education Trust, the program will select five female students to pursue postgraduate studies at Newcastle University.

Those chosen will have the opportunity to enroll in one-year taught master's programs in such fields as environmental engineering, emerging technologies, economics and finance, or international development and education.

The scholarship program is comprehensive in its benefits, covering not only full tuition fees but also providing a 12-month monthly stipend at 1,347 (HK$13,530), a return economy-class ticket, visa fees, and health insurance.

Applicants must be permanent residents and fulfill the entry requirements for their chosen courses, including academic equivalents and English proficiency. The deadline for applications is April 30, and Morley said that applicants will undergo a formal selection process by the university, which includes an interview session.

She expressed hope that the program would attract more ethnic minority women, providing them with an opportunity to pursue higher education in a field that they are often underrepresented in.

"There is a minority of women studying, studying science scholarships, and in particular, there are an even smaller number of women from ethnic minority or marginalized backgrounds continuing their graduate studies in STEM education," Morley said.

Echoing Morley's sentiments, professor Susanne Choi Yuk-ping, a gender studies academic from the department of sociology at Chinese University, cited the "double disadvantages" experienced by minority girls in Hong Kong when it comes to education.

"For some minority groups, I think there's still a lot of resistance to them having a career or for their families to invest in their education. There's still a strong preference for parents to have their daughters prioritizing marriage and motherhood," she said.

Choi also said University Grants Committee statistics showed that over 52 percent of its funded bachelor's degrees in 2022 were awarded to women.

However, only one in five senior academic positions are held by women.

Choi emphasized the importance of role models in encouraging girls to pursue STEM subjects, citing, for example, "girls who are doing well in STEM and because they know they are alumni [in particular subjects], and they can be really good role models because they are close in the age range that young girls can relate to."