Engineers Australia welcomes a thorough study of the engineering profession in Australia. This is essential and appropriate from time to time for all professions critical to the future of the economy. Within its own areas of remit, the organisation has also been examining, restructuring and reconfiguring its professional arrangements and changes emanating from this work are included within the submission.
It is vital that the study comprehensively covers the engineering profession in all occupations and in all industries where engineers are employed. In doing so, it is equally vital that statistics used in the examination adequately reflect the educational and professional formation requirements of the profession. Engineering is characterised by numerous and diverse specialisations, each with particular skills and knowledge essential to particular areas of activity and development. Often it is not large numbers of engineers that matters, but the availability of the right specialist, at the right place and at the right time.
Click here to access full submission to the Australian Workplace Productivity Agency
Engineers Australia’s submission explores a range of topics and issues within the profession including: the supply and demand of engineers in Australia, engineering accreditation and competency standards, advances in the engineering profession and professional formation processes, engineering skills and utilisation of skills, retention issues and intermittency in engineering work, gender imbalances and the concerning decline in science and mathematics studies being undertaken by school students.