The UQ Young Achievers Program was launched in 2009 to assist students from low-income backgrounds to access tertiary education. The students are from state schools, and often rural Queensland, where they will be the first in their family to attend tertiary education. So far over 370 Young Achievers have been welcomed to the program.
MineGeoTech’s sponsorship of the University of Queensland (UQ) was further extended in 2018, with the MineGeoTech Scholarship within the Aspire Scholarship Initiative. The MineGeoTech Scholarship provides commencing students who have experienced financial hardship with financial support to assist them with their transition to tertiary study and is for students in engineering, science, technology and mathematics disciplines from remote and very remote areas.
I knew that university could open multiple pathways and options in engineering, this is why I chose to go.
We are happy to see scholarship recipients doing well and thriving in their STEM field, helping to shape the world for the current and future generations. One such recipient is Aleksandr Krasnov, who is in his 1st year studying Combined Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Science (BSc).
We reached out to see how he is enjoying the university lifestyle, and how this scholarship has shaped his educational pathway so far.
Tell us about yourself, where you grew up, and your family.
I was born in Russia and my family are Russian, I have a small family. When I was younger, under the age of one, we moved to Melbourne, Victoria.
I spent most of my childhood there before leaving Melbourne to live in Airlie Beach in 2021, near the Whitsunday Islands. I then finished my school years in Proserpine, a rural town 26km from Airlie Beach.
I had a volleyball coach in Proserpine who influenced my interest in university. He was knowledgeable, hardworking and disciplined, and I viewed him as a role model.
I was keen to attend university so I could also become more knowledgeable and disciplined.
What inspired you to pursue higher education and go into this specific STEM field of study?
In school I had always been more interested in STEM over literature and humanities. The idea of making robots, gizmos and understanding the science and structure behind those specifically, seems really cool to me.
I also had a specific teacher in primary school who inspired me to go into engineering. He was my favourite teacher, and he happened to do engineering himself. Throughout my life I’ve had excellent experiences with people who are engineers or in the industry, and that’s stuck with me and backed my choice to do engineering myself.
I’m currently in my first flexible year of engineering – we cover a wide range of different types of engineering – I can then choose a specialty I’d like to further my expertise in.
For my second year, I am keen to study mechatronic engineering – this combines mechanical, electrical and software engineering. Specialising in mechatronic engineering will hopefully help me venture into robotic studies and automation, this is an area I am currently considering for my career.
Aspire Scholarship Spotlight Case Study
Read more about his journey in our Aspire Scholarship Spotlight Case Study below:
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