Study Engineering

Engineering in Australia 

Author: With thanks to  A2E2 

Do you want a challenging, creative and exciting career? Do you seek a career that offers variety, personal satisfaction and significant material rewards? Engineering offers all these and more. Michael Brisk, Chair of the Australian Council of Engineering Deans and Dean of Engineering at Monash University tells us more...

Engineers are involved in planning and designing, manufacturing, constructing and managing technological activities of our society, As an engineer you interpret our societies technological needs, devise solutions and
make them happen. The work that engineers do impacts directly on the quality of everyone's day to-day life, and contributes markedly to the future prosperity of our community.

lf you  have already chosen engineering as your future you may still be wondering what choice 
you should make when deciding where you will study. Have you  considered Australia? There are very few countries in the world that can offer as much as Australia when it comes to university level engineering education.

Quality and Reputation

Australian engineering schools are all regularly monitored by the Institution of Engineers, Australia, This professional body whose members are practising engineers, is very jealous of the reputation and Standing of Australian-trained engineers, and will only accredit a university course if it meets the highest standards of content, facilities, staff and above all quality of the graduates produced. When you graduate from an accredited Australian course you will be readily accepted into industry in most parts  of the world - in
fact, Australian~educated engineers  will  be found working everywhere in today's global community. This is especially true of South and South-East Asia, where large numbers of engineers who have studied at Australian universities from the 1960s onwards will be found, many now in very senior positions in industry, or in government, with some running their own successful companies.

There are 37 engineering schools in Australia. That might seem a large number, for a country, with a population of less than 19 million, but it offers you, as an international student, a wide range of choices of location, size of school, and
educational approach. You could study at a large metropolitan university in one of  the state capitals,  choose a university with a campus in the tropics with easy access to  the world-famous Barrier reef, or a small one in a rural setting; within a couple of hours drive from the  snow skiing slopes.

whilst all the schools offer high quality education, some have a  strong research focus, allowing students the chance to participate  in leading edge research activities, whilst others interact  more closely with industry, as students tackle real-world engineering 

Engineering for the Future

If you are about to embark on a university engineering course, then by the time you graduate it will be the next century indeed, the start of the new millennium! It is worthwhile remembering that half the goods or processes we routinely use now were not invented twenty years ago. So twenty years into the next century, or even sooner, much of what you as an engineer will be designing and producing will be things which we cannot anticipate, using materials which do not presently exist. New technologies and newly developing disciplines will give rise to new industries.

The doubling period of engineering knowledge is estimated to be a decade or less, depending on the field. Hence, the engineering you will learn at university will only be the basics, because as a professional engineer, you will have begun a .life-learning experience. Australian engineering institutions have accepted  these issues, and in the review of Australian engineering education completed at the end of 1996, planned significant new approaches to the content and structure of undergraduate courses to address expected future needs.

Australian engineering courses are starting to focus on the development of generic attributes, allowing more flexibilty in student learning styles and study environments, making increased use of modern information technology-based educational tools, and presenting a more holistic view of engineering and it's interaction with society.

As a student at an Australian engineering school, you will be immersed in a new culture, not only because you are in Australia, but also because of a cultural change in Australian engineering education. A change which seeks to produce world class engineers who will be able to tackle the challenges of the future, and enjoy the excitement of making engineering contribute to a better life for our global community.

If you would like to find out more about studying engineering at an Australian university, in addition to using the material in this article, visit the website of the Australian Association for Engineering Education at www.aaee.cqu.edu.au where you will find convenient links to the home pages of all the home pages of all the engineering schools in Australia.

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www.aaee.cqu.edu.au