The SC ATE Scholars initiative is a concentrated effort to recruit, educate and graduate needed technicians using the Advanced Technological Education approach offered at South Carolina technical colleges.

The SC ATE Scholars initiative supports the primary purpose of the ATE program—attracting, retaining and graduating more students in engineering technology to better meet industry needs. Efforts are focused on providing a learning environment that more accurately reflects the workplace setting.

In the SC ATE Scholars initiative, industries and colleges become partners to identify, recruit and select students as SC ATE Scholars. Through a local ATE Scholars industry consortuim, students are offered competitive technical college scholarships (for tuition and books) and related work experience with company sponsors. Feedback from participating companies and students has been overwhelmingly positive.

Shared responsibility and a cooperative effort are important to the initiative's bottom line—producing greater numbers of more highly skilled engineering technology technicians for South Carolina's growing economy.

• Having an expanded pool of engineering technology technicians.
• Actively participating in the student screening and selection process.
• Providing additional educational and training opportunities through a cost-effective public-private partnership.
• Offering an additional employee benefit that can help businesses attract, motivate and retain high quality employees in a competitive field.
• Working as a partner in a SC ATE Scholars industry consortium to meet local engineering technology employment needs.
• Reaping positive community recognition from involvement in the SC ATE Scholars initiative.

• Recruiting and or selecting students to sponsor as SC ATE Scholars.
• Providing a scholarship for tuition and books to company-sponsored students.
• Providing sponsored students a paid, supervised work experience in a related field.
• Supporting recruitment advertisements and student recognition activities.
• Participating in the SC ATE Scholars industry consortium.
• Continuing to provide a company employee the current compensation package while the employee is a student in the SC ATE Scholars initiative.
• Providing schedule flexibility so that sponsored students may enroll in interrelated courses to be taken simultaneously during the semester.

• Offering the SC ATE industrial and or engineering technology curriculum.
• Organizing and facilitating the activities of a local ATE Scholars industry consortium.
• Seeking to identify financial aid opportunities to offset the cost of the company's investment in tuition and books.
• Managing consortium advertising in public media to recruit students.
• Advertising in college publications (catalog, handbook, etc.).
• Testing and screening students based on the college's and company's selection criteria.
• Providing appropriate advisement and academic support to help ensure student academic success.
• Reporting to the company the academic progress of company-sponsored students.
• Coordinating student recognition efforts.

• Maintaining an acceptable grade point average.
• Remaining in good standing as an employee of the sponsoring company.
• Fulfilling all identified responsibilities as a company-sponsored student in the SC ATE Scholars initiative.
• Agreeing to make use of all necessary college and academic support services if and when needed—or when recommended by faculty or company supervisors—to help ensure academic success.
• Permitting the technical college to release academic progress reports to the sponsoring company.