Eight years ago, Brett and Annie Fogarty established The Fogarty Foundation to help the state's brightest students achieve their goals.
Eight years ago, Brett and Annie Fogarty established The Fogarty Foundation to help the state's brightest students achieve their goals.
Through scholarship programs and mentoring, the foundation works the keep Western Australia's top students in the state, rather than heading interstate or abroad to pursue their careers.
Leadership and education are the main avenues the foundation uses to assist students fulfil their potential, via lucrative full and half scholarships to the University of Western Australia and Edith Cowan University.
The Fogarty Foundation has offered scholarships since 2004, helping hundreds of students pursue their chosen careers.
Last year, the foundation dispersed $500,000 in total funding across a range of programs.
The education programs range from the preschool Pathways Program to scholarships at universities and individual scholarships, with most programs having leadership as an integral factor.
The UWA Fogarty scholars study across a range of disciplines and, depending on the type of scholarship offered, students could receive full tuition fees paid for the entirety of their course, and $1,000 for other expenses. Regional students are also offered accommodation at their university's residential colleges.
In partnership with Perth-based Lavan Legal, the foundation hosted a hypothetical debate at UWA on September 3 to test the minds of the state's future leaders.
The hypothetical explored ethical issues involving professional sport and sponsorship.
Co-founder and executive chairperson of the Fogarty Foundation, Annie Fogarty, said the philanthropic organisation wanted to challenge WA's top students.
"This is the first initiative targeting that," she told WA Business News.
"These bright students are an asset to the state and the community and we obviously want our brightest people to be here."
Bettina Mangan, a Fogarty Foundation trustee and Lavan partner, said the foundation now offered some of the most lucrative scholarships in the country.
"The aims and purposes of the foundation are good and the more I saw looking into it, I saw some synergy in what Lavan wants and the foundation wants and that's to promote the brightest and the best at university and give them opportunities to stay in WA rather than going over east," she said.
"We're just trying to make it, not equally attractive, but create some sort of attraction for them to stay here."
According to the foundation's executive officer, Marian Tye, the recent hypothetical was all about leadership.
"It's about challenging students, challenging their thoughts now so that when they go out into the community and in business, they are somewhat aware of the sort of issues they may have to think about outside of what they're studying," Ms Tye said.
Murdoch University offers a scholarship program called The George Alexander Foundation Accommodation Rural Scholarship Program. It has a number of supported scholarship programs in place around Australia, however Murdoch was the first to offer the program in WA.
ECU offers post-graduate Fogarty Foundation scholarships as well as other scholarships under the ECU Foundation umbrella.
The University of Notre Dame provides scholarships through the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation, which covers student enrolment fees among other things.
