Opinion piece by Dr Vicki Gardiner, General Manager – Tasmania, Engineers Australia. This article was first published in The Mercury.
The Tasmanian and Australian economies are changing dramatically.
We are shifting away from ‘vertically integrated’ businesses which undertake most steps in producing foods and services. The future for modern economies will be collaborative networks where businesses partner with services providers. This arrangement is designed to increase efficiency, performance and cost savings. In this new economic paradigm, specific engineering skills, including technical capabilities, logical problem solving and creative thinking will be vitally important.
Engineering already underpins virtually every aspect of our modern lives and is embodied in practically every good or service used by Australians. Tasmanian engineers now work in a global environment and are deeply integrated into sophisticated supply chains. Importantly, engineering is a critical enabling profession that fuels innovation.
Industry sectors with the highest engineer employment rates in Tasmania are consulting and professional services; manufacturing, electricity, water and waste, public administration and construction. Their importance to our state was recognised last year with the release of the Advanced Manufacturing Action Plan and the formation of the Tasmanian Energy Security Taskforce in response to the energy challenge of the Basslink failure. Both reports highlighted innovation as an important part of the future in these sectors.
During 2016, Engineers Australia released a Workforce Development Plan for the Tasmanian engineering profession. The challenge of such an exercise is that it’s not the ‘now’ — as it’s almost too late — but what skills does our workforce need in five to 10 years and beyond.
Like all professions, engineering has an ageing demographic which finds itself adjusting to disruption and transformation. This means there are a number of traditional jobs now being automated but these are being replaced by others that involve new skills in digital technologies, systems thinking and leadership.
On top of that, about 70 per cent of new students are being educated for jobs that do not currently exist. As part of Engineers Australia’s research, a survey of Tasmanian businesses that use engineers was undertaken, revealing that in the past three years, 50 per cent of those businesses have contracted and 90 per cent have changed their business model.
The survey also showed the challenges and opportunities facing the profession.
The need for a nimble workforce: Tasmanian engineers are competing, collaborating and supplying services to an international field. This affects the skill sets needed for engineers to survive and thrive in this marketplace. The profession is now integrated into sophisticated supply chains. This requires both broadening and deepening of skills required of engineers to play specialist roles within those supply chains. Skills include project and contract management, quality assurance, and the ability to work in increasingly complex and often virtual team environments.
Declines in pre-tertiary STEM enrolment and gender imbalance in engineering education: I’ve written many times about the decreasing number of students enrolling in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), especially advanced maths, physics and chemistry. Of course, there have been the comments that we are training too many scientists for jobs that do not exist. To quote Will Kestin, CEO of TasICT, “every business is a digital business”. To support this and the importance of having a scientific aware society, I like to describe STEM as a way of thinking.
This is recognised in the New Australian Design and Technologies curriculum which is underpinned by the key areas of systems and design thinking to create preferred futures. STEM, including ICT, is a creative sector that develops critical thinking and other skill sets that are needed for tomorrow’s hi-tech industries, no matter where our future graduates are located in the business.
Career pathways and paraprofessional: engineers encompass professional engineers, engineering technologists and engineering associates, yet in Tasmania there are few options for developing the depth of tomorrow’s Tasmanian engineering team. In particular, a new skill set is emerging across engineering disciple: a tradesperson of the ‘internet of everything’.
From advanced manufacturing to renewable energy, a design-thinking, business-savvy, quality-focused paraprofessional is an emerging skill set in demand.
A better connected workforce: the demand for engineers is cyclical and heavily reliant on government priorities and infrastructure requirements. Demand for work has peaks and troughs as major projects are initiated and completed.
Engineering is a critical enabling profession that fuels innovation and yet the profession faces a range of systemic challenges that will require long-term and sustained efforts to redress.
Engineers Australia is forming an advisory group of senior industry and educator and government representatives to develop initiatives that are owned and contributed to by all key stakeholders.
To grow Tasmania’s and Australia’s skilled workforce, Engineers Australia also recommends that:
- Our educators need proper training in maths and sciences and better resources to support their teaching. That includes industry and professional bodies becoming involved to help advise them.
- Governments should align policies and programs to foster innovation with educational requirements and professional development necessary to prepare for future jobs.
- There is also a need for state and local government strategies to implement long-term plans for infrastructure and energy to encourage STEM jobs growth and transition to a ‘smart economy’.
If we work together, we can transform the Tasmanian economy and ensure our children have opportunities in the jobs of the future.
Image: Tasman Bridge, Hobart, iStock.