Our new partnership with the University of Tasmania (UTAS) is the Foundation’s first foray into that state. The George Alexander Foundation Relocation and Living Support Scholarship will support students who need to move away from home in order to attend university and offers five scholarships valued at $7,500 per year for three years, amounting to $22,500 per scholar.

Approximately one-third of all current UTAS applicants need to relocate in order to study at the university. The current financial climate means an increasing number of students are unable to rely on family support to attend UTAS, and we hope this funding will make a crucial difference for bright young people with academic potential.

Our partnership with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) marks another first for the Foundation in that this program supports post-graduate students. The GAF program at QUT provides financial support to students undertaking a graduate or Masters degree at the Australian Centre for Nonprofit Studies. Some of QUT’s most financially challenged students are those studying at the Centre for Nonprofit Studies, and in many cases, they seek to balance study with significant volunteering positions.

The third new program at Victoria University (VU) is an addition to the university’s unique merit-based scholarships program. Since 2010, VU has given two scholarships to students at secondary schools in the western region of Melbourne; around 50 schools in the local government areas of Brimbank, Hobson's Bay, Maribyrnong, Melton, Moonee Valley and Wyndham. The George Alexander Foundation Achievement Scholarships at VU commenced in 2013. From 2013 to 2015, the Foundation will support five undergraduate students with scholarships valued between $15,000-20,000 (over three or four years) and 20 vocational education students with bursaries valued at $4,000 (over two years).

We also renewed five existing scholarship programs with Murdoch University in Perth, RMIT University, Australian Catholic University in Ballarat, the Centre for Sustainability Leadership and the International Specialised Skills Institute (ISSI). We have increased our commitment to the ISS Institute program and now support three fellowships, and at Murdoch University, we now offer six scholarships each year, valued at $24,000 over three years, to regional students relocating to Perth to study at Murdoch.

The GAF scholarship program now operates in 11 universities and colleges around Australia, supporting more than 60 new students each year. We follow the progress of each of the GAF students with great interest as they pursue their studies and later go on to work and contribute to the community.  The GAF Scholarship Program has been operating for over 10 years now, and we are really starting to see the benefits it brings to individual scholars and to the wider community through the contributions of these talented and community-minded young people.  

Mr Charles B Goode AC  
Chairman