Industry Profile: Engineering

Examples of engineering design, products and services permeate all aspects of everyday life. Engineers apply their skills in numerous ways, in specialist technical occupations, in design, in management and in entrepreneurship.
 

Engineers Australia is the peak body for engineering practitioners in Australia, representing all disciplines and branches of engineering. All Engineers Australia members are bound by a common commitment to promote engineering and to facilitate its practice for the common good. In December 2005 Engineers Australia membership had grown to 75,798.
 

While engineers get great coverage in the context of Australian minerals export, large numbers of engineers are involved in the building and construction sector, in the construction of infrastructure and the delivery of infrastructure services that are the hallmarks of a modern, sophisticated society. Equally important, engineers are critical in managing water supplies, the achievement of energy efficiency and development of renewable energy sources, resource management, the development of medical and rehabilitation technologies and tools. Engineers are increasingly becoming critical to the management of the quality of Australia’s environment, oil, gas and electricity industries, mining, and manufacturing and to infrastructure investment projects across the board.
 

The size of the engineering profession in 2001 numbered 150,409 individuals qualified at the Bachelor Degree level, including both Professional Engineers and engineering Technologists. The Engineering Team, which also includes Engineering Associates who hold Undergraduate Diplomas and Associate Degrees, numbered 267,538 in 2001. Engineers tend to be, on average, younger than other professionals and about 10% are women.
 

Today, 42 Australian universities and colleges offer engineering courses. Overall enrolment of domestic engineering students was 42,644 and this was 7.8% of the enrolment of domestic students in all courses. In 1994, there were 4503 overseas students enrolled in Australian engineering courses, or some 9.6% of the total enrolment in engineering, while overseas engineering students comprised 11.1% of all overseas students in Australia.
 

Over the next 5 years, the number of overseas engineering students grew by nearly two-thirds and accounted for most of the growth in the engineering student population.
 

As you can see, there are numerous and diverse opportunities for engineers in Australia. With the vast infrastructure projects now getting underway, one can only expect that demand to spiral in the near future. Click these links for basic immigration requirements for skilled visas and for current employment opportunities.