FACULTY FOCUS
re d f o r
Universities and the engineering sector are trying to
improve diversity and overall numbers by making
the industry more appealing to female talent.
By James Wells and Andrew Bracey
G
irl power can help solve Australia’s
chronic shortage of engineers.
Every year, Australia imports
12,000 engineers to fill jobs. One-quarter
of these come on temporary work visas.
Only 6000 are graduates from Australian
universities. This trend has gone on for the
past decade. And demand is increasing.
Engineers Australia, the industry’s peak
body, shows nationwide demand for
engineers is growing by an average of
5.5 per cent annually.
Mark Hoffman, University of New South
Wales dean of engineering, agreed that
Australia needs to train more engineers. He
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says the profession should turn to women –
not only to make up the numbers, but also
for diversity. About 13 per cent of Australia’s
engineers are women.
“It’s well known that the most innovative
teams are teams [with] a diverse makeup,”
Hoffman says. “Obviously, if you made
the engineering profession more diverse,
then you would end up with better
engineering outcomes.”
Key to this is changing perceptions of
the industry. Hoffman says engineering is
traditionally seen as a male field, though
firms want more women and the average
graduate salary in the sector is higher for
women than men – $65,000 compared
with $60,000, the latest figures from
Graduate Careers Australia show.
“Name another profession where that’s
happening,” Hoffman challenges. “Engineering
has for a long time been perceived as a
male profession, one that doesn’t welcome
females particularly well. The other part is that
from early on in the school system, females
have traditionally been discouraged from
doing science and maths subjects, which
are potentially a foundation for engineering
and various technological professions. But
employers very much want women in the
engineering profession.”
Hoffman says this reflects not only many
companies’ understanding of the potential
outcomes that more diverse teams