Since 2007, The University of New England’s Growing Regional and Agricultural Students in Science (UNE GRASS) program has led the development and delivery of education programs that ignite a passion for education in young people, empowering communities by building future capacity in regional Australia through greater access to tertiary education.

The repertoire of activities and opportunities for science teachers and students run by the UNE GRASS program currently includes the Industry Placement Scholarship for year 11 and 12 students, and a Teacher Professional Development event.

Analysis of the students recruited and mentored by GRASS in a snapshot of time between 2017-2020 confirms: 77% of these students go on to University, with 62% of these enrolling at UNE; and 57% of the students that come on to UNE, were headed to another university at the time of application but changed their preferences to UNE following the GRASS experience.

GRASS has a track record of successful delivery for the last 14 years and is currently at peak levels of engagement, as detailed by the three graphs below.

Data analysis completed by the Business Intelligence Unit (BIU), consistently confirms that those students recruited and engaged by GRASS and continuing studies at UNE are performing with higher academic performance and greater retention in UNE’s agricultural and environmental science courses as compared to their peers.

Students recruited by GRASS in 2021 will soon be completing their industry placements throughout December and January, where they will experience first hand the wide variety of careers in Science.