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Australia will need more engineers to build and maintain future infrastructure, products, systems and services for its knowledge-based, low-carbon economy.

Engineering education will support the nation by delivering graduates and supporting professionals in practice.

As reported in Engineers for the Future, the 2007-8 review of the engineering education system led by the Australian Council of Engineering Deans (ACED), the nation’s 33 engineering schools provide a wide range of programs from associate degrees to doctorates.

Engineers Australia accredits programs that qualify graduates to enter practice, and these are benchmarked internationally under the Washington and Sydney Accords. Among the engineering schools are examples of excellent practice in all aspects of engineering education, including in problem-based learning and industry linkages.

Two of the review’s six recommendations focused on measures to reduce the shortfall of engineering graduate numbers, by increasing the visibility of engineering and by enhancing the flexibility of study pathways.

The other recommendations proposed actions that build expertise to ensure award programs have well-targeted graduate outcomes that are delivered through best-practice pedagogy and curriculum, with increased sharing of expertise and resources, and engagement with industry practice.

This article reports on current activities that are addressing these recommendations, and suggests three future structural changes.

Since 2006 the engineering schools have continued to enrol about six per cent of Australian students. Domestic undergraduate engineering commencements have grown at 10 per cent a year, biased towards civil engineering.

The participation of women, which peaked around 20 per cent in 2000-01, has declined to about 16 per cent. The average graduation rate appears to be increasing: at least 60 per cent of students commencing an engineering bachelor degree are likely to complete it. Of those who do not, many will graduate in another field, and some will be employed in engineering without completing their award.

Best-practice outcomes

From mid-2008, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council has provided supporting funding to ACED and members of several engineering schools to address specific issues and disseminate best-practice outcomes. Projects include:

• analysis of the pathways taken by undergraduate students, and sample surveys to determine why they persist with their engineering study, switch program or withdraw;
• development, by Engineers Australia in collaboration with ACED, of revised graduate competency statements and accreditation standards for the three occupational categories (professional engineer, engineering technologist, and engineering associate/technician);
• development and trial of coursework units in engineering education for academic staff;
• development of specifications and guidelines for gender-inclusive curriculum for engineering and construction;
• investigations of systematic methodologies for improving curriculum design and ensuring coverage and assessment of graduate outcomes; 
• evaluation of the outcomes of dual degree programs including engineering; and 
• a demographic study of engineering academics focusing on their industry engagement and experience, and their approaches to teaching.

Many universities are investing in new learning spaces to enhance engineering project and design-based work. A group of engineering schools is exploring the implementation of shared-use remote laboratories.

New engineering program structures and pathways are being developed, some within whole of university undergraduate education reform.

The Australasian Association for Engineering Education is actively promoting engineering education research and gaining presence in international networks.

In summary, these initiatives will increase the authenticity of engineering education by making the curriculum more closely connected to practice and engaging academics with best-practice pedagogy.

In addition, Engineers Australia and ATSE have introduced programs intended to increase school students’ knowledge of engineering, and their participation in mathematics and science.

Several agencies, including the universities, are scoping approaches to increase the effectiveness of students’ articulation between the VET and higher education sectors. The engineering schools’ interests here arise, in part, from the Commonwealth Government’s adoption of proposals from the 2008 Higher Education (Bradley) Review to increase to 40 per cent, by 2025, the proportion of the 25 to 34 age group with at least a bachelor’s degree, with 20 per cent of enrolments from low socio-economic and indigenous groups.

Challenging targets

These targets will be challenging for engineering – on current trends it might be hard to even maintain the current six per cent share of enrolments.

Increasing the participation of women in engineering programs must be a priority. Effort should focus on attaining 30 per cent average participation by 2025.

Increased student numbers will require optimal deployment of resources (including staff, laboratories, industry-partnerships and educational technology) to provide the required engineering programs and courses, and sustain engineering research. Increasing the take-up of research places by Australian graduates will also need to be addressed.

Engineers are clearly critical to building infrastructure and addressing society’s needs. They will adopt new science, materials and technologies in future products, systems and services.

Engineers are taking very seriously their responsibility for ensuring sustainable economic development with minimal environmental impact. We can imagine that by the 2020s the value of good engineering will be sufficiently widely recognised to encourage greater levels of career interest and university study.

Three key changes

This shift will happen only if engineering education continues to build on current initiatives and changes some of its practices. The three changes discussed in the following paragraphs were foreshadowed in the Engineers for the Future report and are already under development in some universities.

1. To attract more students, engineering schools will need to focus more on the value of engineering than on its mathematical and science prerequisites. There will be more emphasis on identifying prospective students with the right aptitude and motivation. Curriculum change will concentrate on the central issues of engineering – design, problem solving, systems thinking, performance improvement, maintainability, sustainability, project management and risk analysis – as well as ensure that graduates have sound understanding of the scientific and mathematical principles of engineering science, technologies and systems. Greater attention should be given to ensuring engineering graduates understand and respect the capabilities of other professionals and specialists.

2. In line with international trends, the qualification for professional engineering is likely to change to a Masters award, and take a minimum of five years’ university study. In larger universities, engineering may concentrate its identity in graduate schools. These will also deliver postgraduate awards in advanced engineering science, advanced practice, and research degrees. Entry into such professional qualification programs should be possible from a wide range of bachelor degree programs.

3. Simultaneously, three-year engineering degree programs will provide preparation for Masters programs and also supply graduates to enter occupational practice as engineering technologists. Considerable effort will be needed to devise programs for this category that are valued by students and meet industries’ defined needs, but such programs will provide opportunities that are currently largely absent. Three-year programs may be located in broad academic structures with strong connections to the engineering graduate schools. Such structures should encourage multidisciplinary understanding, and facilitate offering engineering courses for students in science, planning and architecture, business, journalism and teacher education.

In conclusion, engineering education in Australia is in good shape, and is progressing many initiatives to improve the quality and employability of its graduates.

As a discipline for study, engineering has great potential, especially if educators seize the opportunities of the times, and strive to position engineering as a valued area for many to study, rather than a narrow and introspective one for the few.

Author’s note: the structural changes and targets presented are not the plans or policies of the organisations to which the author is affiliated.
 
Robin King was Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of South Australia’s Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment, from 1998 to 2007. He was project manager and author of the 2007-8 review of Australian engineering education, Engineers for the Future, on behalf of the Australian Council of Engineering Deans, for whom he is part-time Executive Officer. Robin is an Emeritus Professor of UniSA, an Adjunct Professor at University of Technology Sydney and director of CRC-CIEAM and ICE-WaRM. Robin is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, Chair of the Accreditation Board of Engineers Australia, and Deputy Chair of the Sydney Accord.