The engineering profession in Australia has traditionally attracted few women. Currently, women represent around 6 per cent of practising professional engineers and 14 per cent of enrolments in engineering degree courses nationally.

The Women in Engineering program was established at UTS to improve this low representation of women by communicating a broadened conception of engineering to secondary students. This led to the development of curriculum resources on teaching technology for girls.

The program now uses a diversity of approaches to communicate with secondary schools and capture the interests and capabilities of students, especially women, and it also works to address barriers that may inhibit the contribution of women to the engineering profession.

The program has been recognised for its inauguration of the Annual Australasian Women in Engineering Forum, for its initiatives in curriculum development, and its contributions to the ground-breaking National Review of Engineering Education. It has strongly influenced the philosophy of engineering at UTS, and has been a catalyst for many innovations in the new Bachelor of Engineering, Diploma in Engineering Practice curriculum introduced in 1998.

The program has recently translated its experience in communicating with schools about engineering into curriculum innovation in the Bachelor of Engineering at UTS. Women in Engineering promotes opportunities for student-led projects on community, professional and sustainability-based concerns.

The Faculty strongly welcomes women students and invites their contribution to ensuring an inclusive teaching and learning environment. Through the subjects which preview and debrief industrial internship, all students can contribute their insights into workplace cultures in engineering. The Faculty also supports broader cultural and equity initiatives which better enable women graduates to fulfil their potential as future engineering and management professionals and as researchers and engineering academics.