News
| 31 January 2025

Year 12 students dive into the profession for Engineering Summer School 

New South Wales students were treated to a week of immersive engineering experiences as part of the 32nd Engineering Summer School in December. 

Around 80 Year 12 students, from 40 schools across Sydney and regional NSW, attended sessions designed to show students the possibilities of an engineering career. They were able to see first-hand examples of work they might not have realised exists in the profession. 

The number of girls participating in these programs has been growing steadily over the past five years – 2024 saw equal numbers (50 per cent) of female students attending both the Cochlear Autumn School and the Engineering Summer School. 

Summer School included visits to key engineering universities University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, University of News South Wales, Macquarie and University of Wollongong and immersions at engineering businesses ANSTO, BlueScope Steel, Cochlear, HMAS Kuttabul/RAN and John Holland’s M7-M12 integration site. 

An Engineers Careers and Pizza night presented students with an opportunity to network with 23 engineers and engineering students from a wide variety of disciplines from quantum, renewable energy to mining. Our volunteer engineers shared great stories with the students about how they have followed their interests in and out of their original discipline.  

Students were split into groups and had eight-minute sessions with the volunteers to ask questions to get advice on HSC/IB survival and life at university, as well as the engineers recent career adventures and plans. By chatting with engineers, the students start to visualise themselves in the future. They get the chance to see projects unfolding and to imagine their future career opportunities in a broad range of sectors, everything from working underwater to working in space.  

Finally, the students attended the awards and recognition event hosted by our Young Engineers Australia Sydney co-chair, Adrianna Assey. They got the chance to speak with Engineers Australia’s Young Professional Engineer of the Year 2022, Deanna Hood, who presented their Summer School completion certificates.  

90.5 per cent of attendees gave feedback that they were absolutely going to study engineering after high school. A further 63.50 per cent said they were planning to do double degrees that include engineering. 

One of the students said, "overall it was comforting to listen to opportunities and how there will be some specific field for me and how there's multiple ways to get there." 

Another commented, "I have gained a deeper understanding of so many different fields of engineering (some I hadn't even heard of before)." 

Engineers Australia would like to thank the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer who supports this and all the schools engagement programs, and all those involved in making Engineering Summer School happen. 

We are now busy with preparations for the Cochlear Autumn School of Engineering 14–17 April, as well as day long immersions for students in Years 7–10. If you’d like to volunteer for the next program, contact [email protected] to express your interest.