Education provider Kaplan Professional, in partnership with the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) will offer 10 Women in Finance Scholarships.
This $1.5 million grant had been awarded to manage and deliver a scholarship program funded by the Australian Government for women in finance and economics, which was part of the Women’s Leadership and Development Plan with support from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women.
The 10 scholarships would cover the tuition fees of any four subjects in Kaplan Professional’s Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority (FASEA) approved Master of Financial Planning, but was dependent on whether a recipient commenced postgraduate study or chose to continue their studies in a Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning or Graduate Diploma of Financial Planning.
Kaplan said eligibility was available to any student who identified as female, regardless of whether they had currently, previously or never studied with Kaplan.
Each applicant would be considered on:
- Financial need;
- Re-entering the workforce;
- Low socio-economic status;
- Mature or young age;
- Residing in a rural or remote area;
- Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander; and
- New migrant.
The FPA would allocate $85,000 to Kaplan Professional to partially fund the 10 scholarships, with Kaplan Professional funding the difference.
Brian Knight, Kaplan chief executive, said he hoped the scholarship scheme would encourage women to enter or re-enter the industry and achieve leadership roles across the financial services sector.
“We know there is already significant pressure on financial advisers across the industry, and there are a number of additional barriers and challenges that women may face,” Knight said.
“We hope the scholarship scheme will go some way towards alleviating some of the financial burden of studying at a postgraduate level, especially for those women who may be disadvantaged by their situation.
“We believe there is a strong need for a greater number of female advisers to assist Australians because of the perspective they bring.
“We have seen the number of women enrolled in our postgraduate financial planning qualifications steadily increase over the past few years – women now make up over 40% of our student population.”
Scholarship applications were now open and closed on 1 October, 2021, and would be awarded from Study Period 6, which commenced on 8 November, 2021.
