Australasian Science 11

I beganstudying engineering part-time in 1959. The head of my
university, subsequently rebadged as the University of NSW, was
arguing then that Australia needed to educate more profes-
sional engineers if we were to become an advanced industrial
nation. His stated ambition was for UNSW to produce more
engineering graduates than any other Australian university.
The latest igures from the Academy of Technology and
Engineering (ATSE) show he was right on both counts. UNSW
has the largest engineering faculty in the country and produces
almost 20% of the graduate engineers each year. But there is a
huge gap between supply and demand. ATSE says that about
18,000 engineering jobs are available each year in Australia.
The universities only produce about 6000 graduates. So about
two-thirds of the positions are illed by engineers coming from
overseas. About one-quarter of these arrive on temporary work
visas.
This is yet another consequence of the Commonwealth abdi-
cating its responsibility for planning. With universities rela-
tively free to set their recruitment targets for the various areas
of study, there has been a shift away from courses that are expen-
sive towards those that are relatively cheap to provide. So engi-
neering, science and applied science are all areas of study that
university managers are reluctant to encourage. Courses in law,
economics, commerce and business studies don’t require expen-
sive teaching laboratories, so numbers in those areas have
expanded dramatically. Our universities now graduate far more
lawyers than are needed even for the litigious society we have
become, but nowhere near enough engineers to ill the job
vacancies.
The other striking feature of engineering studies in Australia
is the continuing gender imbalance. Women only account for

about 13% of professional engineers, and that igure won’t

improve dramatically any time soon. Across the university

system, only about 16% of engineering students are female.

UNSW is doing much better than average; 21% of its under-

graduates are women.

The difference isn’t rocket science: the university has been

running an annual Women in Engineering camp in January

for students in Years 11 and 12. It began as a small exercise, but

this year 90 young women spent 5 days being introduced to

possible careers in engineering. That approach really works. In

past years, three-quarters of the young women who attended

these camps in Year 12 went on to study engineering at univer-

sity. UNSW also has dedicated scholarships to encourage women

into the ield.

There is no reason why engineering needs to be dominated

by men. I remember being told decades ago that the gender

balance is about 50/50 in eastern Europe. In our own region,

about 30% of Malaysia’s professional engineers are women and

they make up about half of the student population.

ATSE says that this has been achieved by “government poli-

cies that recognise the importance of women’s contribution to

innovation”. We don’t even have government policies that

recognise the importance of innovation generally, let alone

encouraging diversity.

I really wonder what is happening to our food. I remember

buying a ham and cheese sandwich from a local shop when I

was irst working in Sydney. There was a smear of butter on

each of the two pieces of bread, with a slice of ham and a slice

of cheese as the illing.

I was recently on an aircraft and accepted the offer of a ham

d cheese sandwich for lunch. To my amazement, the list of

edients on the back of the paper bag ran to 15 lines of small

nt. Some of this was incredible detail: the wholemeal bread

tained wholemeal wheat lour, thiamine, folic acid, water,

t, iodised salt, sugar, wheat gluten, vegetable oil or canola oil,

vinegar, soy lour, emulsiiers, toasted malt lour from wheat

or barley, an acidity regulator and an anti-caking agent. The

list of ingredients in the tomato balsamic relish alone took up

six lines of ine print.

When I looked at the principal constituents, they were bread

(48%), ham (35%), tomato balsamic relish (15%) and cheddar

cheese (12%). Yes, you can add up the four numbers: together

they make up an amazing 110% of the sandwich. That’s value

for money!

APRIL 2016| | 49

LOWE TECH Ian Lowe

Engineering Numbers Aren’t Adding Up

Our universities aren’t producing enough engineers to meet demand, and gender balance
remains an issue.

Ian Lowe is Emeritus Professor of science, technology and society at Griffith University.

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