SkillsTech Australia has partnered with local universities to deliver specifically designed courses for engineering students building a formula one style car chassis.
SkillsTech Australia Welding Teacher Ronald Dyer said the Certificate II in Engineering course had been developed to provide more practical skills for students.
“The annual Formula Society Automotive Engineers Australasian (Formula SAE-A) competition challenges students to design, build and test their own race car,” Dyer said.
“This year a group of engineering students from the University of Queensland (UQ) have taken a more hands-on approach by completing a Certificate II in Engineering at TAFE.
“Students gained a valuable insight into the manufacturing process as we provided procedural knowledge of the construction phase.
“The group learnt a lot as they built the chassis, which enhanced their understanding of the theory part of the course and can help their design at the testing stage of the competition.
“Teaching in a project-based environment really encapsulates what SkillsTech Australia, as Queensland’s largest trade training TAFE institute, is all about and definitely enhances the students’ skills as they learn in a real-world approach.
“Formula SAE-A is a competitive event and we are seeing more interest from universities as they recognise our course provides valuable skills and improves students’ understanding “The Queensland University of Technology is also on board and we hope others will follow.”
Check out the following video about students making the chassis and SkillsTech Australia teachers talking about the partnership with UQ.
{^youtubevideo|(width)445|(height)284|(border)True|(color1)#666666|(rel)True|(autoplay)False|(fs)True|(color2)#EFEFEF|(url)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iubqJ7XOFbQ|(loop)False|(cookies)False|(hd)False^}