CGI teamed with a top five Canadian bank to offer the Dalhousie University Women in Technology Scholarship to provide tuition assistance and career mentoring to female students studying computer science or similar at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
With various estimates showing that only a quarter of technology careers are held by women worldwide, , the scholarship aims to encourage more women to pursue careers in IT and set them up to be future leaders in the industry.
“It’s not enough to attract women into computer science. We need to make sure that the transition to early careers and to places in industry is exciting and that they get career acceleration if we’re going to have more female leaders in technology,” says Andrew Rau-Chaplin, Dean and Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University.
The merit-based scholarships are available to both first and second year students in the IT program at Dalhousie. Interested students apply by submitting essays and videos sharing why they think they should receive tuition assistance and mentoring. The university selects the finalists and sends the applications to a panel of professionals from CGI to make selections.
Selected students receive tuition assistance, individualized mentoring from CGI professionals, and placement for work terms/co-op semesters in emerging technology areas such as artificial intelligence and robotic process automation. When students graduate, they are invited to apply for full-time positions at CGI.
CGI plans to expand the program to include hosting a speaker/mentorship series on various technology and business topics for all Dalhousie students.
View the following video to learn about CGI’s work with women at Dalhousie University:
We also invite you to view other CGI community stories in our video Tech for Good: CGI in Our Local Communities.
