2024 The Illawarra Connection Scholarship - University of Wollongong

The Illawarra Connection Scholarship or TIC Scholarship covers full tuition fees for successful applicants to pursue a Graduate Certificate degree at Sydney Business School, UOW.

What is a Graduate Certificate degree?

A Graduate Certificate is a stand-alone qualification comprising 4 subjects on a specific area like Marketing, HRM, Supply Chain or Business Analytics, or a broad business area, like the Graduate Certificate in Business Administration.*

If you successfully complete a Graduate Certificate, these 4 subjects count towards your Master’s degree.

If your dream is to complete a Master’s program or an MBA, then apply now to start studying in 2024.

*Full list of Graduate Certificates below.

A TIC Scholarship winner's story

Peter Buckley was the proud recipient of the Illawarra Connection Scholarship in 2008 offered by Sydney Business School, UOW. The scholarship allowed Peter to pursue a Graduate Certificate degree with 100% tuition fee reduction.

I finished the master's degree and we found out we were expecting triplets. We welcome three identical girls to the world. Nappy changes, sleep patterns. The routines of feeding the, the triplets are at 10 now. So I've got, um, my son is 12 Fraser and then Eliza Bronte and Chloe are our beautiful daughters.

My current role is director of Shire Services for Walling Dele Shire Council. For me personally, it was always an ambition that I would grow up. I would go to high school and I would one day study at the University of Wollongong and, and to come back today and, and work in Walland Dly Shire where I grew up. My family grew up there, my grandfather and, and their parents grew up there.

So there's a real connection to place that just evolves into being part of the community, part of my workplace and serving people that I work with. They say, you can't be what you can't see.

So if there's somebody else in the family who has been to university and now look at them, look what Peter's done. He's had these senior positions in so many different industries, found his real niche, this fabulous job at Wall Dilley and seeing that success.

They come back today and see grace and, and be able to see some of the new buildings that have been built over the last few years. And I don't think I would be where I'm today without that.

That connection with the University of Wollongong. Peter took every bit of learning that he could, but he started with who he was as a person. He's never changed. 27, 28 years old, I was in a fairly senior role for a public company to really apply myself to the M B A. I thought once I was committed, each course was a another layer in, in the foundations that I had for my future career.

The job now suits him absolutely perfectly because he's always learning something new and he's serving the community and that is absolutely who he Is. Really taking those building blocks that I learned in the M B A, I was able to then fast track more of my career development, particularly into the senior roles in a S X companies and some startups.

You take your learning with you and you add to it and you carry on and all that becomes part of who you are. And then you come to that wonderful place where it all comes together and you can do your best work.

So if you think that doing a graduate certificate at Sydney Business School at the University of Wollongong might be right for you, then maybe this is the best time apply for the scholarship and you could be the one who actually gets it this year. This could be your time.