Community and Recognition

Three former West Coast school students are the new Westland Milk Products higher-education scholarship award winners for 2026. Jeannelize Diplock, Jessica Beckford and Charlotte Provis will join six students already part of the Westland scholarship programme.

Jeannelize, deputy head student at Westland High School finishing in 2025, is starting her first year at Massey University, studying towards a Bachelor of Food Technology (Honours).

Jessica is in her third year of a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Chemical and Process Engineering at University of Canterbury.  She was Head Student at Greymouth High School finishing in 2023 and received a First Foundation Scholarship as a Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research Scholar in 2022, and the University of Canterbury Te Kakau a Maui Scholarship in 2023.

Charlotte is in her third year a double degree in Law and Commerce at the University of Canterbury, majoring in management.  Charlotte went to Westland High School finishing in 2023. Some of her achievements include the Westland High School Senior Netball Award 2023 and Westland District Council Young Achievers Award for Community Involvement 2023.

Scholarships are open to students with ties to the West Coast region or Westland Milk Products and are studying at a New Zealand university fulltime in one of the following fields: Chemical and Process Engineering, Automation, Biology, Chemistry, Food Science, Environmental Science, Commerce, Business and Law.

Scholarship students receive $3000 a year to support their study, plus paid summer work from November to February.

The scholarships provide summer work opportunities for the students while they work alongside industry experts, contribute to real projects, and gain insights into the inner workings of our global dairy business.

Full employment may be offered after graduation, subject to a suitable position being available.

Scholarship applications open in October each year. We recommend any students interested in applying, register their interest on our careers site.

Last year we welcomed our first cohort of Graduates in 2025, with 13 joining the business in February.

Graduates work at our Christchurch, Hokitika and at Oceania Dairy in Glenavy sites.

The 18-month programme is designed to help young talent kickstart their career. Graduates participate in a wide range of growth and development opportunities including on-the-job learning experiences in a supportive environment, personalised growth plans, networking with experienced professionals, development workshops and one-to-one coaching.

More opportunities will be available for graduates to join our Operations teams at Hokitika and Glenavy in February 2027, with recruitment for this cohort starting around May 2026.

We recommend any future graduates interested in applying, register their interest in Graduate opportunities on our careers site.