A Victoria University (VU) academic is concerned that Australian universities are struggling to produce enough engineers to meet the demands of the country’s unprecedented resources boom. The problem is compounding in China, where demand for raw materials to feed its manufacturing industry continues to grow, despite the global financial crisis.
Universities across Australia continue to struggle to attract school leavers to engineering courses. Engineers Australia estimates we now have a shortfall of about 28,000 engineers in the workforce.
“Only 6,000 engineers graduate from Australian universities each year,” says Dr Akhtar Kalam, a Professor in the Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) course at VU. “Compare that to China, where between 250,000 to 600,000 engineers graduate each year,” Dr Kalam said.
“Despite a perception that engineering is not a lucrative career, Australian engineering graduates are among the first employed and best paid of all university graduates – earning about $45,000 in their first job,“ Dr Kalam said.
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(Image courtesy Victoria University.)