A new tertiary education surveying scholarship was launched at a special event held in Brisbane on 25 November.

The UniSQ Jack de Lange Surveying Scholarship has been established by The Surveyors’ Trust, the ISAQ Bicentennial Education Foundation and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ).

The scholarship will provide successful applicants with $6,000 per year for three years to help them complete a Bachelor Degree in Surveying or Bachelor of Surveying (Honours).

UniSQ has already advertised the scholarship for 2026; the first recipient will begin their studies in February, with others to commence in subsequent years.

“The Trust’s major gift is an example of what can be achieved to offer life-changing opportunities to students who otherwise might face impossible barriers to further education,” added Phillip Pozzi, chair of the Foundation.

“The potential benefits to the profession and industry of such gifts are immense.”

Jack de Lange was the CEO of the former Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA).

Together with the SIBA Board of Directors, he fought the complexities of copyright laws to convince the Copyright Agency Ltd that surveyors deserved to own copyright over their plans.

The matter was finally settled in the surveyors’ favour in the High Court of Australia, although it took nearly 12 years. But even then the battle was not over, as the Copyright Tribunal had to rule on the amount of royalties that should be awarded.

Alongside this fight, Jack was setting in place a structure that would bring about lasting change for the profession — the establishment of the Australian Copyright Trust — a body that would aggregate the collected royalties and achieve large outcomes for the industry and the members who supported (and still support) it.

“The scholarship is a fitting recognition of Jack’s monumental contribution to the profession and industry for his leadership role in achieving intellectual property rights for surveyors,” said Anthony Schmidt, chair of the Trust.

“It exemplifies the many benefits flowing to industry from pooled copyright royalties.”

Details of other scholarships and bursaries, such as the Clem Jones and Geoff Wright Scholarship, can be found on the ISAQ website.