Lost geniuses back on track

By STACEY BODGER education reporter

Waikato University has found a way to foster young computer buffs who cannot gain a senior school qualification in the subject.

The Herald reported last week that students are being deterred from studying computing because it is not offered at Bursary level.

Instead, most choose subjects such as maths and physics, which count towards Bursary scores.

Computer sciences staff at Waikato University recognised that future computing geniuses were being lost to other sciences and mathematics.

Five years ago, the university developed a Bursary-equivalent computing syllabus and final exam which students can sit through secondary schools that offer the course.

The chair of computer sciences, Professor Mark Apperley, said up to 60 seventh-formers from Northland to Wellington now took the course through their secondary schools each year.

Most went on to study for the university's four-year computing and mathematical sciences degree.

Full first-year scholarships are offered to the top 10 students each year.

"Computing had begun to be sidelined into something of a vocational subject and that image had begun to permeate through to university level," said Professor Apperley.

"We were missing out on very able students, but this way, they are steered into a programme which develops them."

The university provides participating schools with a syllabus outline on which the final exam will be based.

Students sit the finals, a written test and six-hour practical, at their school, the same way they do for other Bursary exams.

Jenny Baker, head of computing at Hillcrest High in Hamilton, said the course addressed what was lacking in the curriculum and gave junior students serious about computing a challenging qualification to aim for.

She said former Hillcrest students who completed the degree had got very good jobs.

Many of them were overseas.

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