Adelaide and Bendigo Bank launch 2014 scholarship program.

Studying his VCE in the rural Victorian town of Horsham in 2012, Saif Kahn’s dreams of becoming a diplomat in Central Asia were literally a world away.

Living without his parents, and forced to support himself through his year 12; this 18- year-old from a non-English speaking background had to work harder than most to achieve his goals.

But 12 months later, with the support of the Bendigo and Adelaide Bank scholarship program, Saif has just finished his first year exams at ANU in Canberra, a double degree of law and international relations in his sights.

Saif said the scholarship had proved invaluable during his first year of study, allowing extra time to explore his love of languages – he is taking a Farsi class outside his university studies – and community work with Dragons Abreast and the Victims of Crime Association League (ACT).

“The scholarship has given me that extra level of security,” he said. “This year has been excellent for me, I’ve done even better than I expected. “I didn’t have to work through exams, which has contributed to my good results, and I wouldn’t have had that option without the scholarship.”

Hundreds of other Australian students just like Saif have benefitted from Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s scholarship program since it began in 2007.

Yesterday the Bank launched its largest ever scholarship program. More than 160 scholarships will be offered in 2014 – both to first year undergraduates as well as those second year students who received first year scholarship support in 2013.

“The program has expanded dramatically since its launch in 2007,” Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Chairman Robert Johanson said.

“Two years ago our Community Bank® partners joined the program, and this year we are excited to announce that our wholly-owned subsidiary Rural Bank will also be offering its own agribusiness scholarships, allowing us to help even more Australian students.”

This year, Rural Bank will be offering eight scholarships to rural and regional students pursuing a career in agribusiness, in partnership with selected Community Bank® branches.

La Trobe University and Melbourne University have also partnered with the Bank to offer specialised scholarship programs for their rural and regional students.

While the bulk of the scholarship program focuses on students from rural and regional locations, several metropolitan Community Bank® branches are also helping local students from their district with study costs.

Mr Johanson said the Bank continued to look at ways it could expand its support of the communities it operated within.

“We believe in strengthening communities and there’s no better way than supporting young people to pursue their dreams,” he said.

“These scholarships can give students the financial help they need to take the first step on their pathway to higher learning, and maybe one day they will be able to bring these skills back to their local community.”

Successful applicants initially receive funding for one year and depending on academic performance, the scholarship may be renewed to support their second year of study.

Applications for the 2014 program will close on Friday 24 January 2014.

For more information about the 2014 Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Scholarship, visit www.bendigoadelaide.com.au/scholarships.

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Craig Dunn, Steve Helmich and Amelia Constantinidis from AMP with the winners from La Trobe University – Morgan Faye Remilton, Ruby Henderson and Aaron Day.

A team from La Trobe University in Victoria has won the AMP University Challenge in a year that saw a record number of female entrants and finalists.

The AMP University Challenge is a national financial planning competition open to all Australian university students who want to find out first-hand what being a financial planner is all about.

AMP Horizons Director Amelia Constantinidis congratulated the winning team on their win and said that student response to the Challenge exceeded expectations, particularly in terms of the number of females who registered and then made submissions to the competition.

“A profession should broadly reflect the demographics of a society so we were encouraged that 44 per cent of submissions were made by females, up from 34 per cent last year and 58 per cent of this year’s finalists were women, compared to 50 per cent last year.

“Attracting and retaining top female talent is key to the continued success of the financial planning profession so the gender mix of this year’s Challenge entrants is a positive sign,” Ms Constantinidis said.

The competition, now in its third year, aims to enhance financial planning professional standards by increasing awareness of the profession amongst universities and students.

Individuals and groups of students are invited to submit a scoped advice discussion paper in response to a hypothetical client case study and the top five teams come together in Sydney to take part in the Finals Day.

There were 64 submissions to this year’s Challenge, up from 57 last year, and 113 students took part in the competition

The winning team, which comprised Morgan Faye Remilton, Ruby Henderson and Aaron Day were awarded the top prize by AMP Chief Executive Officer Craig Dunn and Director Advice and Client Solutions Steve Helmich at a reception at AMP on Friday night.

“Taking part in the AMP University Challenge has given us the opportunity to look up from our text books and get a true appreciation of the difference we’re going to be able to make to people’s lives,” said Morgan Faye Remilton, a member of the winning team.

First prize was $5,000 cash (for the winning team to share), along with registration to attend the 2013 FPA National Congress in Sydney and a student membership to the association as well as attendance to the 2014 AMP Planner Conference in Melbourne. La Trobe University also received a $10,000 grant for AMP to put towards financial planning initiatives.

Teams of students from La Trobe University also took out second and third prizes respectively which included $2,500 and $1,000 cash and student membership of the FPA.

Students from all the Australian mainland states took part, with Victorians accounting for 71 per cent of overall submissions and 100 per cent of finalists. La Trobe University accounted for 51 per cent of applications as the Challenge is integrated into the curriculum and assessment for the final year subject forming the financial planning major. Griffith University and TAFE NSW: Higher Education have also embedded the Challenge into their curriculums.

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