Undergraduate course information

UTS: Engineering's flagship course is the five-year Bachelor of Engineering Diploma in Engineering Practice (C10061). Students graduating with this award can major in civil, civil and environmental, electrical, ICT engineering, innovation, mechanical, mechanical and mechatronic engineering or graduate without specifying a major. In addition, a major may be combined with a sub-major in another discipline.

UTS: Engineering also offers a four-year Bachelor of Engineering (C10067) available only to international students, a three-year Bachelor of Engineering Science (C10066) available only to international students, as well as the combined degree awards Bachelor of Engineering Bachelor of Arts in International Studies Diploma in Engineering Practice (C10062), Bachelor of Engineering Bachelor of Business (C10065), Bachelor of Engineering Bachelor of Science (C10073), Bachelor of Engineering Bachelor of Medical Science (C10075), Bachelor of Engineering Bachelor of Biotechnology (C10078) and Bachelor of Engineering Science Bachelor of Laws (C10136).

The same educational philosophy underpins all awards: students undertake a set of core subjects, a set of practice subjects that defines their major and, in some cases, a set of electives. The Diploma in Engineering Practice award requires the completion of two internships. The single Bachelor of Engineering and combined Bachelor of Engineering courses require the completion of 12 weeks work experience. The credit recognition policies and assumed knowledge are the same for all courses.

The Bachelor of Engineering Diploma in Engineering Practice is described below including information on course structure. For detailed information on the subjects in each major, or information on other courses, refer to the individual course entries.

Bachelor of Engineering Diploma in Engineering Practice

The program leading to the combined award of Bachelor of Engineering Diploma in Engineering Practice (C10061) (BE DipEngPrac) is a comprehensive preparation for careers in the professional practice of engineering.

The BE DipEngPrac is a combined award and the Diploma in Engineering Practice is not available separately. Both elements of the program are closely interwoven and interdependent, and prepare students for professional engineering internships by linking theory and application. The degrees combining engineering with business, biotechnology, science and medical science may also be combined with the Diploma in Engineering Practice.

As noted above, 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 are highly regarded in industry and, according to many reports and surveys, graduates have enjoyed correspondingly high employment rates; the highest of any engineering degree courses in Australia.

Engineering education in many countries is undergoing revolutionary change and the UTS program is at the forefront of much of this change.

At present, students can major in the combined award in one of the following areas: civil engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical engineering, ICT engineering, innovation engineering, mechanical engineering, mechanical and mechatronic engineering, or with a non-specified major. The choice of major can be made at entry or postponed until the end of the first year without extending completion time (subject to availability of places and adequate performance). Further majors may be introduced in subsequent years in response to technological developments and employment demand, and provision will be made to allow students to change from existing majors. It is also possible for students to negotiate a program that focuses on an area outside the designated majors. There is considerable elective scope which can be used to extend engineering knowledge or to take a sub-major in a discipline such as business or social science.

Course structure

The overall program comprises five principal components: the core program, the Engineering Practice Program, the fields of practice subjects, the electives and the Capstone Project. The core program, the Engineering Practice Program and the Capstone Project are common to all students undertaking the BE DipEngPrac.

Core program

This component provides a framework covering knowledge, skills and attributes that are relevant to all engineers across all fields of practice. It consists of common mathematics and physics subjects, and common engineering subjects which draw on several fields of engineering practice to develop interdisciplinary knowledge and skills within the larger context of professional practice.

The core program runs throughout the course from admission to graduation. Students take differing combinations of subjects in their first year, and in each successive year, depending on their choice of major.

Engineering Practice Program

The Engineering Practice Program supports and assesses student learning in workplace and community environments. Its objectives are to prepare students for engineering work experience, to support them during that experience and to assist them in maximising learning. The program also supports the integration of this experiential learning with the theoretical and practical aspects of the academic curriculum.

A fundamental objective is to develop the ability to learn in a wide variety of modes and contexts and to critique and contribute to those learning environments on a lifelong basis.

The program is administered through a series of subjects offered in various modes. Students enrol in the program as a whole and are guided through the respective modules. Students are ultimately responsible for their progression through the program. Academic staff and workplace mentors and supervisors act as facilitators; administrative staff assist in ensuring that students' progress is recorded and validated; and Industry Partnering Unit staff assist students in securing suitable work placements and in establishing cooperative programs with industry and the community.

The minimum time in the workplace required to satisfy each engineering internship subject is 22 weeks. In total, however, 48 weeks must be gained by the required deadline to meet course requirements and to be eligible to graduate.

Internships are organised into two blocks of six months each. Students are required to undertake the relevant prerequisite subjects prior to undertaking their internships and in a semester following an internship are required to enrol in the appropriate review subjects. Credit point limits also apply to some of these subjects. Details of prerequisite subjects and subjects required to be completed after each internship are listed under STM90271.

While students are encouraged to undertake additional work experience, they are only permitted to complete each of the two official internships once.

Industry Partnering Unit

The Industry Partnering Unit (IPU) assists students in obtaining internships. The staff of the IPU maintain contact with industry and on average facilitate 250 internships a semester. IPU staff keep records of students' intentions of seeking and securing internships. A service is also offered to advise students on the preparation of résumé, presentation at interviews and advice on how to find work opportunities in Australia and overseas. Students seeking work experience must register with IPU in the semester preceding their intended period of work and the semester of their internship.

IPU maintains a database, called Industry Internship Management System (I2MS), which provides the interface between the student and company. Once students have access and an active résumé on I2MS they can apply for internships. This system also records the detail of junior and senior internships. It is the students' responsibility to advise IPU of the start and finish dates of the internship and also check they enrolled in the appropriate engineering experience subjects.

Fields of practice and majors

This component relates theoretical and practical learning from core subjects to applications in specific fields of engineering internship. It develops knowledge of engineering science and technologies relevant to particular branches of engineering and specialist technical expertise. Particular sets of subjects constitute majors in the respective fields of practice, as set out below. A major provides the essential foundations needed for practice in that field, familiarity with current practice, awareness of likely developments and knowledge of resources available for future self-directed learning.

All majors emphasise and develop the essential engineering skills of observation and experimentation, analysis and synthesis, modelling, systems thinking, conceptual reasoning and judgment, and problem formulation and solving, using as case studies the technologies and contexts relevant to the particular field of practice. Each major involves substantial laboratory content, designed to integrate theoretical and practical understanding. All are designed to link with the core program and with engineering internship.

The totality of all fields of practice subjects across all majors provides the pool from which students wishing to graduate with a non-specified major may draw (subject to approval) to make up their field of practice component. Some fields of practice include subjects taught wholly or partly by other faculties.

Electives

In general, students may devote 24 credit points to electives. A range of electives may be taken to broaden or deepen knowledge. Some students may wish to explore introductory engineering subjects before making their choice of major, in which case the additional subject(s) may be counted (subject to conditions) as part of the elective component. The elective component also provides a mechanism for recognition of prior learning. Further, the elective component affords maximum flexibility for students wishing to undertake study on international exchange with our overseas partner institutions.

Students are not permitted to take an elective subject that covers substantially the same material as a required subject or a subject already undertaken. Undergraduate students may enrol in approved UTS: Engineering postgraduate subjects provided they have completed at least 120 credit points of their undergraduate degree and met prerequisite requirements. Undergraduate students may undertake up to four approved postgraduate subjects. A maximum of three approved postgraduate subjects recently undertaken as part of an undergraduate degree may be used to apply for exemptions from a UTS: Engineering master's degree provided the subjects fulfil the equivalent subject requirements.

The combined degrees have no electives.

Capstone Project

In the final semesters of the degree, each student undertakes a Capstone Project, supervised by a member of academic staff and designed to consolidate and integrate learning in all aspects of the program. Industry-linked projects, under joint supervision, are strongly encouraged.

The project topic must be approved by an academic supervisor and must be relevant to the field of practice concerned. It may be largely technical in emphasis or it may encompass a range of technical and contextual challenges.

The Capstone Project results in a substantial report which must be written and produced to professional engineering standards and must demonstrate the student's readiness for professional engineering practice.

Credit recognition

Students with prior formal learning (such as other university study or TAFE qualifications) may be entitled to credit recognition in the form of subject exemptions. The level of credit recognition depends on the relevance of the area of study to the proposed major in the BE DipEngPrac. For a TAFE diploma in the same area students can expect to receive between 24 and 36 credit points of exemptions, depending on the grades obtained in the TAFE subjects.

Exemption from part of the Engineering Practice Program is granted only on the basis of actual work experience completed before commencing the course that can be shown to meet the required standards. The maximum exemption given is for one work-experience semester. Without exception, all students in the engineering practice program must complete all components associated with the second internship.

UTS: Engineering reserves the right to advise any student who is admitted with credit recognition, and who is not succeeding in the program, to undertake some or all of the subjects from which exemption had been granted.