- This is the third generation of the Impulso STEM program, which has so far benefited 58 young students in Oaxaca.
- Impulso STEM promotes the study of degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, especially among women.
Oaxaca, October 25, 2022.- Iberdrola México has granted 19 scholarships to students from Oaxaca – ten women and nine men – to study a science or technology degree as part of the Impulso STEM (STEM Boost) program, which has so far benefited 58 students from Oaxaca over three generations.
«Iberdrola México does not conceive its own development unless it goes hand in hand with the communities and the promotion of local talent in the academic and professional fields. To achieve this aim, it is essential to encourage education with programs such as Impulso STEM, which also seeks to close the existing gender gap in certain fields of study,» said Iberdrola México’s Renewable Business director, Luis Estrada, during the scholarship award ceremony at the General Archive of Oaxaca.
In partnership with the Technological University of the Central Valleys of Oaxaca (UTVCO) and the UNAM’s Institute of Renewable Energies (IER), the scholarships cover living and school expenses for students throughout their degree course with the aim of promoting training for young people, especially women, in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The project is backed by an investment of 15 million pesos until 2024, thanks to which 100 scholarships will be awarded to students from Oaxaca with a further 12,000 students from the Central Valley region and the Isthmus of Oaxaca also benefiting from the different activities covered by Impulso STEM.
FOR EQUALITY
According to a report published this year by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), only three out of every 10 professionals in the country who chose STEM degrees are women.
Elvia García is 19 years old and lives in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca. She won the scholarship and will study Sustainable and Protected Agriculture to pave the way for other young women. «This scholarship helps women have or complete an engineering degree. In society we are still not well recognized in these technical professions,» she said.
Diana Pacheco, another of this year’s beneficiaries of Impulso STEM, emphasized that this scholarship will allow her to continue studying, since she lives in a «financially critical family situation».
The young IT student highlighted the gender perspective being promoted by this scholarship: «Society thinks that men are more qualified for this type of degree. But this is not the case, and this scholarship gives us the chance to develop as women and, ultimately, help our community».
FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF OAXACA
Impulso STEM is seeking to make an impact through various lines of action that will make it possible to better respond to the needs of the labor market and increase productivity and competitiveness in the state of Oaxaca.
«The synergies that accompany the Impulso STEM project and its multiple actors are essential for transforming the reality of Oaxaca and ensuring its development at multiple levels,» said Manuel Francisco Márquez Méndez, Oaxaca’s general coordinator of Middle-High and Higher Education, Science and Technology, during the event.
In turn, UTVCO principal Nydia Delhi Mata Sánchez added: «Our education center’s commitment to the students is unwavering, and proof of this is this program in partnership with Iberdrola México that promotes academic excellence and does so for the good of Oaxaca, especially for women».
With these awards, Iberdrola México strengthens its commitment to help the regions it operates in, specifically Oaxaca, where in addition to having four wind farms with a combined installed capacity of 300 megawatts (MW), it implements social actions to foster the social and economic development of the country’s southern and southeastern regions.
