What does it mean?

Engineering is about devising ways in which technology can contribute to human ends, and about developing, delivering and maintaining technical systems that do so. The practice of engineering is about doing this reliably and cost-effectively, in the context of real social and economic objectives and pressures, and in a variety of business and community settings. It embraces many technical and non-technical factors that cannot be replicated in the classroom, including the need to understand and interact with a wide range of people and perspectives as well as to deal with new or unexpected technical issues and with uncertainty and risk. It should recognise the fundamental need to ensure a sustainable future.

Education for professional engineering must include a strong intellectual training, and a strong grounding in engineering science. But over-concentration on engineering science can impart a narrow technical mindset, and an education that is exclusively academic can be remote from reality. Either of these can cause graduates serious difficulty later in coming to grips with the human aspects of engineering and with the demands of practice.

Practice-based engineering education requires students to experience the reality of engineering internship from an early stage in their professional formation. It actively relates this experience to their developing understanding of engineering theory, analysis and laboratory work, and to studies in other disciplines, and it promotes critical and creative thinking based on knowledge gained outside as well as within the University. This interaction requires that most academic staff themselves have significant experience of engineering internship, and keep it constantly refreshed. Educational programs in which either students or a majority of staff do not have current experience of practice cannot validly be called practice-based.

Practice-based education is more than practice, and more than education. A university education should impart a thorough grasp of fundamental principles, a respect for knowledge, a capacity for critical inquiry and lateral thinking, a fluency in communication, a pride in excellence, and an eagerness to contribute to shaping the future. Practice-based engineering education claims that these attributes can be more effective when they have been developed in contact with the human and technical challenge of real engineering situations.

Engineering education at UTS

In Australia, the basic qualification for professional engineering is the Bachelor of Engineering degree (BE). At most universities the BE occupies four years of full-time academic study. At UTS, as well as completing the academic program, all undergraduate engineering students must gain substantial approved engineering experience in industry, or in other authentic professional settings. This experience must be distributed over the period of the course and must meet standards of level, quality and relevance. This experience is recognised in the award of a Diploma in Engineering Practice (DipEngPrac). The combined BE DipEngPrac degree takes five years to complete.

Graduates of most university engineering courses need up to two years' experience in industry, after graduation, before they are able to assume real responsibility. UTS Engineering graduates have already gained much of this experience, together with a real understanding of the interrelations between theory and practice, technology and human factors. They are equipped to undertake professional responsibility much sooner than graduates of other courses at other universities – often immediately upon graduating.

The combination of formal academic learning in the University and experiential learning in the workplace is called Cooperative Education. UTS Engineering courses have embodied this principle for over 30 years. The courses have been highly regarded in industry and according to many reports and surveys, the graduates enjoy the highest employment rate of any engineering degree courses in Australia. UTS Engineering is by far the largest Cooperative Education faculty in Australia, in any discipline. Cooperative Education is also well known and highly regarded in other countries, particularly in North America. UTS is a member of the World Council for Cooperative Education.

The BE program has recently been completely redesigned. It retains the Cooperative Education requirement for substantial work experience, but now goes much further. It extends the concept of practice-based engineering education into one of total professional formation, and leads to the combined award of Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice (BE DipEngPrac).

Other UTS Engineering courses, undergraduate and postgraduate, are also designed to interact strongly with industry, though the work-experience requirements are mostly less structured than those of the BE DipEngPrac. In all programs, the majority of students already have significant industrial experience, or are gaining it concurrently. The Faculty has policies for maximising opportunity for its academic staff to maintain first-hand experience in industry, and engages many practising engineers as adjunct teaching staff. It also strongly encourages collaborative research and consultancy with industry, and many of its research students are industry based. The predominant culture, therefore, is strongly practice oriented, and this also benefits the relatively small number of students who do not yet have engineering work experience.

The Faculty is actively exploring the new paradigms of work-based learning now developing in several countries, and has recently introduced a work-based learning program.

In all of its activities the Faculty seeks to promote better understanding of the role of engineering in society, and to promote and support service to the community through other channels as well as industry.