To support the conservation of Australia's threatened wildlife and ecosystems, John Swire & Sons (Australia) Pty committed AU$400,000 over five years, commencing in 2013, to employ a dedicated field ecologist at Brooklyn Wildlife Sanctuary, which is owned and managed by Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). AWC is establishing a new model for conservation focused on practical land management - such as fire management and feral animal control - informed by the best available science. The 60,000 hectare Brooklyn Wildlife Sanctuary, located in far north Queensland, is the most biodiverse parcel of private land in Australia, where 45% of the country's bird species and over 30% of its native mammal species can be found. The sanctuary protects more threatened species than any other nature refuge in Australia. The partnership between AWC and Swire is important in helping to stop and reverse the decline of Australia's precious natural assets.
Community
We have a long history of community involvement. We believe that when the communities in which we operate prosper, so do our business. We cannot help everyone, so we concentrate on projects where we can make the most difference. The Swire Education Trust in the U.K. and The Swire Group Charitable Trust in Hong Kong focus on support to arts and culture, education and the environment. We also support projects financially and by donating products, services and the time and energy of our staff.
Since 2006, the Swire Group Charitable Trust has been principal patron of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. Swire's aim is to help foster the artistic development of local classical musicians and bring classical music to a wider public, thereby enriching the lives of the communities which have helped its businesses grow.
Swire Symphony under the Stars, which is a free, open-air concert held every year in Hong Kong, is one of the most important elements of the Orchestra's dedicated drive to open out the arts to the wider community, bringing spectacular symphonic music to over 15,000 people in Hong Kong every year.
Scholarships
Swire has a long history of educational sponsorship. We believe that giving young people a chance to build a better future for themselves is one of the best ways to give back to the communities that have helped our businesses grow and prosper. Our support for education dates back to the first decade of the 20th century, when Swire donated £40,000 to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and endowed the Taikoo Chair of Engineering at the University. Today, the Swire group provides a wide variety of scholarships, grants and bursaries across the globe to graduate and post-graduate students at tertiary level, as well as to primary and secondary school students.
The Swire Educational Trust (SET), headquartered in the UK and administered by parent company John Swire & Sons Limited, was established in the 1980s to sponsor graduate and postgraduate places in the UK for scholars around the world. The Trust places special emphasis on students from the communities where we do business. SET has sponsored university places for undergraduate and graduate students principally at Oxford University, but with additional scholars at Aberdeen, Warwick, London, Reading and Leeds Universities in the UK.
In Hong Kong, Swire Pacific Limited and John Swire & Sons (HK) Limited share the cost of funding tertiary scholarships for local and Mainland Chinese students at a number of Hong Kong universities. The Swire Doctoral Scholarship was established at the University of Hong Kong in 1997, with the aim of funding postgraduate students and academics from leading Mainland universities. On a similar basis, two Swire Postgraduate Scholarships were established in 2003, to fund students from Mainland universities to study Masters' degree courses in Economics and Common Law at HKU. Since 2009, two visiting scholarships are also provided annually at HKU for senior research officials from the Ministry of Commerce of the PRC Government.
In addition, funding is available to the children of group employees in Hong Kong studying at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
As Swire's business interests grow and spread geographically, so has the scope of its scholarship funding. Outside of the UK and Hong Kong, locally-based operating companies have initiated a range of schemes to benefit students in the countries where they operate. Please visit the websites of our operating companies for detailed information.
