Maintenance Society $5000 Scholarship up for grabs

APPLICATIONS are now open for the annual Maintenance Engineering Society of New Zealand MESNZ Scholarship. As part of the MESNZ objective, “To encourage New Zealand training into tertiary education and technology”, an MESNZ scholarship worth up to $5000 is to be offered each year, for the specific purpose of assisting engineering tuition fees. Designed to assist engineering students advance their studies, the Scholarship is available to assist students commencing study towards any MESNZ/IPENZ accredited engineering degree, diploma or certificate from any year level. Applications are now being sought from candidates interested or participating in maintenance engineering as a career. While the scholarship is restricted to candidates who are New Zealand citizens or permanent residents, the brief for applicants is wide ranging and designed to assist anyone from apprentices and cadets through to tradesmen, engineers and professionals in the engineering field. Candidates from any region in New Zealand are encouraged to apply for the MESNZ scholarship. Students with links to MESNZ through work or other avenues are urged to apply. Candidates are required to submit a simple written application. Applications will be reviewed by a Society Selection Committee.  Short-listed applicants may be required to attend an interview in September/October, with the winner to be announced at the National Maintenance Engineering Conference in November this year. Scholarship coordinator Bill Sole urges employers and senior management to nominate staff who they think worthy of the scholarship. Employers are often keen judges of staff potential and the Society is keen for those employers to prompt potential candidates to take the first step towards improving their career. Details on the Scholarship, pre-requisites and the selection process are available on the MESNZ website at www.mesnz.org.nz. Society news In other MESNZ news, committee members Jeremy Wilson (Mighty River Power) and Andrew Ouwejan (Metlab) have resigned their committee roles due to business commitments. The Society’s AGM is held during the National Maintenance Engineering Conference in November and with the strength and depth of the committee it is very much business as usual until then. The National Maintenance Engineering Conference, easily the cheapest two day event in industry, will be held at the Devon Hotel in New Plymouth on November 10 and 11. The two day conference features a well proven measure of holistic maintenance management papers presented by experts, industry providers and peers. The 2010 event continues the well proven and popular format with thought provoking papers on preventative maintenance, health and safety, human resources, energy efficiency, engineering and employment law. Registration forms and background details can be found on the society website at www.mesnz.org.nz/nmec/ The $680 +GST per person attendance fee goes down well with engineers, normally prevented from attending comparable two day events by costs far in excess of this amount. A better bang for your buck will not be found anywhere else for such an inspiring and informative event. Exhibitors too, will be pleased with the opportunity to get in touch with engineers during the event and at the pre-conference Trade Expo. For further details on the National Maintenance Engineering Conference contact Leanne Powley on 09 296 1333 info@adminoncall.co.nzor myself, Craig Carlyle, 09 299 3357 craig@transform.net.nz or visit www.mesnz.org.nz. Craig Carlyle is secretary of the Maintenance Engineering Society of New Zealand.