© CDFScholarship student, Alejandro Mieles, evaluating the impact of the fire ant eradication program.One of CDF's objectives is to support the education of young Ecuadorian scientists and conservationists. CDF created a program of volunteers and scholarships to give Ecuadorian university students the opportunity to conduct research and conservation work in Galapagos with expert supervision. Since 1971, hundreds of students from Ecuadorian universities have benefited from this program. Students from Galapagos schools have been included in the program and they have carried out excellent work.
Under this scheme, Scholarship students are those who have finished course work and are conducting thesis research as part of the degree program; Volunteers are students who have completed a minimum of two years of university and who provide assistance to CDRS projects.
As a result of this program, the CDF currently has, amongst its permanent staff, fifteen people who were formerly volunteers or scholarship students, and a number of former becarios now hold important positions in conservation in Ecuador.
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