Engineering Education: an Australian Perspective

The quality of life for the entire world is hugely dependent upon the engineering skills of those who design and develop our goods and infrastructure. Engineers are literally building our future so the quality of their education is of immense importance to us all. In Australia, as in so many other countries, the face of engineering education is rapidly changing, with the modern day engineering lecturer juggling enormous workloads that are associated with publications and grant applications on top of increasing teaching responsibilities. These stresses are exacerbated by the significantly larger numbers of students, many of whom are from very culturally diverse backgrounds. A paradigm of engineering education is emerging as a direct result of these challenges, and has led to a very vibrant research community in Australia. The content of the book demonstrates this and, while it has a strong Australian focus, it will be directly relevant to similar issues faced by so many other countries. The expert contributions centre on the interaction between academia and industry;the development of engineering curricula; issues relating to the diversity of cultures and equity; the challenges of creating positive experiences for new students; novel methods of student assessment; and the use of modern teaching tools.