OREANDA-NEWS. OMV, the integrated, international oil and gas company, has once again awarded scholarships to young women who are interested in technology and engineering. An assessment center was used to select the 15 scholarship recipients from a pool of 170 applicants. The technical scholarship program was launched in 2012 and aims to encourage more women to take an interest in technology.

“Education is the key to the future of the next generation and to the quality of Austria as a business location. We are awarding technical scholarships to encourage more young women to take up technical careers and thereby counter the shortfall of skilled workers in technology and engineering long-term”, said OMV Senior Advisor E&P Capability Development Christopher Veit when awarding the certificates to the students. “The feedback from students has shown that we are on the right track. OMV is helping students to be able to concentrate 100% on their studies.”

15 scholarship recipients were chosen from 170 applicants, with the use of an assessment center.

The scholarships have been in place since autumn 2012 and OMV supports 15 students per year in their technology-based studies for the duration of their bachelor degrees; both financial and academic support is provided. The 15 successful applicants receive a monthly grant of EUR 350. At the same time OMV offers recipients the opportunity to gain work experience, as well as assisting with their Master dissertations.

All of the scholars from 2012 and 2013 have successfully completed their first year of higher education. The majority have also made the most of the opportunity to take up a work experience placement at OMV. “The Technical Scholarship has enriched me in a variety of ways while studying to be a geologist. The work experience placement in particular was a huge motivational boost for my degree”, Sharadiya Kozak, a scholar from 2012 said. “The scholarship has allowed me to have fewer concerns about financing my degree in Leoben, giving me more time to study.”

The Technical Scholarship

Launched in 2012, the “Technical Scholarship” initiative allows OMV to make a targeted contribution to increasing the percentage of women in the fields of technology and engineering, as well as boosting the number of female graduates in technical disciplines. With OMV's sustainability concept, “Resourcefulness”, OMV supports an array of initiatives aimed at increasing the appeal of technology among young people, especially women, thereby countering the shortfall of skilled and specialized workers long-term. This scholarship also strives to support young women from financially disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition to a passion for technology, applicants must have successfully completed their secondary education (school-leaving certificate) and plan to start a degree course in autumn 2014 in subjects such as petroleum engineering, mechanical engineering or process engineering; students in their first year of higher education are also eligible. Scholarship students must study at one of the five eligible universities (University of Leoben, Vienna University of Technology, Linz University of Technology, Graz University of Technology, University of Vienna) and provide confirmation of enrolment along with an annual confirmation of achievement.

Gender diversity and equal opportunities at heart of HR strategy

Gender diversity and equal opportunities are critical issues at OMV and represent a key component of the HR strategy. As the company's origins are in the mining industry and OMV has historically pursued an increased focus on technology, the staff structure has tended to be male dominated. In the medium to long term, the goal is to increase the number of women, both in technical positions and overall. In Austria OMV employs around 3,600 staff, with women accounting for around 23%. There are around 27,000 employees internationally, with women making up around 22%. OMV has successfully managed to increase the percentage of women at Senior Vice President level from 6% in 2010 to around 14% at present, a more than two-fold increase. OMV is committed to increasing this to 18% by 2015.

OMV Aktiengesellschaft

With Group sales of EUR 42.41 bn and a workforce of around 27,000 employees in 2013, OMV Aktiengesellschaft is Austria's largest listed industrial company. The Exploration and Production business segment has a strong base in Romania and Austria and a growing international portfolio. 2013 daily production stood at approx. 288,000 boe/d. OMV operates a gas pipeline network in Austria and gas storage facilities in Austria and Germany with a capacity of 2.6 bcm. In Refining and Marketing OMV has an annual refining capacity of 17.4 mn tonnes and as of the end of 2013 approximately 4,200 filling stations in 11 countries including Turkey.