Women and non-binary STEM scholars face losing access to a program with a 96% retention rate unless the Federal Government commits further funding beyond 2027.
The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) is calling on Canberra to extend its investment in Elevate: Boosting Diversity in STEM. The program has supported more than 500 scholars across 36 universities since launching in 2022.
Without a new funding commitment, the program stops taking on scholars after 2027.
What Elevate STEM program delivers
Elevate provides scholars with financial support, professional development, wellbeing assistance, mentoring and leadership opportunities. It targets fields where women remain significantly underrepresented — engineering, physics and information technology among them.
Efforts to lift girls' and women's participation in STEM across regional Australia have consistently shown that targeted, sustained support, not one-off programs, drives retention.
More than 5,000 applications have been received over four years, with only around 10% of applicants able to be supported. That demand gap signals how far Australia is from meeting need.
Scholars represent a diverse cross-section. Nearly half of all scholars (41%) grew up outside major cities, and 8% identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
ATSE President Dr Cathy Foley AO FTSE FAA PSM said the numbers made the case clearly.
"Elevate has a consistent retention rate of 96%, with a dropout rate 3.5 times lower than the national average. Those are results we should pay attention to. When an independently reviewed program is delivering this kind of outcome, the question should be: how do we build on what works?" Dr Foley said.
ATSE is seeking funding for three further annual intakes of 100 scholars each, with ongoing investment beyond 2030 needed to sustain the program.
Why the pipeline remains under pressure
The national STEM Equity Monitor, published last month, found that women accounted for just 39% of university STEM course completions between 2021 and 2024. The proportion was unchanged across the four-year period.
For school leaders, the pipeline question begins well before university. Research into how principals can boost female engagement in STEM subjects points to the same conclusion: sustained exposure and visible role models are what shift participation, not single interventions.
Dr Foley said a single funding cycle is not enough to shift systemic patterns.
"Real change doesn't happen in a single funding cycle. We can already see Elevate transforming individual careers, but it takes years and sustained investment for that impact to shift the national STEM participation figure," she said.
"Elevate is showing us that targeted support can make a measurable difference to help people complete their studies, develop their skills and build careers."
The case for continued investment
The Australian Government awarded $41.2 million over seven years to ATSE to deliver Elevate scholarships from 2021–22 to 2027–28. The program has since attracted co-investment from Snowy Hydro, the Commonwealth Bank, AirTrunk and the Department of Defence.
ATSE argues that walking away now — at the point when evidence is accumulating — would be a strategic error.
"Continuing Federal Government funding for Elevate would be a practical, evidence-based investment in the people Australia needs to deliver its Future Made in Australia," Dr Foley said.
Alongside university-level initiatives, there is growing momentum at the school level. The Hunter STEMM Academy's school-university partnership model in New South Wales represents one approach to building the pipeline from secondary school onward.
Without renewed Federal Government investment, no new Elevate scholars will enter the program after 2027. This could interrupt a decade of progress at precisely the moment the data is starting to show results.