Water Corporation’s long-running graduate program is continuing to set the benchmark for training and development in Western Australia, providing emerging science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professionals with opportunities to build their careers.
The graduate program, which has been running for 25 years, equips hundreds of Western Australian graduates with hands-on experience and skills that support career growth within the organisation.
In 2026, a further 30 engineering and data science graduates from across the state will join the program, gaining access to specialised training, mentoring and practical project work that prepares them to contribute to the state’s future water needs.
Endorsed by the Australian Association of Graduate Employers (AAGE), the program received the highest national rating of any government‑run graduate course in the organisation’s most recent rankings. The program was also placed sixth overall among medium‑sized programs for the second year in a row.
Water Minister Don Punch says Water Corporation’s graduate program provides Western Australians with training and a strong foundation in STEM careers.
“We are proud to offer engineering and data science graduates substantive opportunities to address real‑world water challenges and contribute to shaping Western Australia’s long‑term water security, while strengthening a workforce built and developed here in our state,” Punch says.
Australia’s mining industry is addressing the challenges surrounding the sector’s skills shortages and competition for talent.
As previously reported, despite the clear need for certain skills in the industry, universities across Australia are making cuts to their geoscience programs.
In recent years, two universities – the University of Newcastle and Macquarie University – have completely closed their earth science departments, as reported in the Australian Geoscience Council’s (AGC) Tertiary Education Profile.
As of 2021, less than half of Australia’s 42 universities offered undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in geoscience. Industry experts have found that many of these decisions are driven by financial concerns, rather than the societal importance of these disciplines.
According to Nature Reviews Earth and Environment, in 2020, there was a 29% reduction in funding in Australia for earth science courses, which equals about $10,000 per student annually.
As a result, course sizes decrease, which in turn triggers less enrolments and profits for the following year.
Nature Reviews says funding reductions inevitably lead to lower-quality student experiences, as academics find themselves without support, postgraduates are unsupervised, and undergraduates transfer to other institutions.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Western Australian Government
