Participants in a tour of the foundations of Charles Sturt University’s new engineering school were encouraged to use their imaginations, as founding professor of engineering Professor Euan Lindsay walked them through the site, sketching pictures with his hands.
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Prof. Lindsay spoke of how the engineering school would be the university building closest to the iconic Mount Panorama circuit, and as such has been designed to take in views of the Mount Panorama sign.
He said the school would be unlike any other, designed to produce a new type of engineer who was entrepreneurial, who could communicate with all people and who had a mindset of making a difference, rather than just making things.
“We don’t want to create Sheldon Cooper engineers,” he said.
The course will feature 18 months of study and four years of paid work placements, more than any other engineering course in Australia. Because of this students will develop a portfolio that will give them a head start in their career.
The curriculum will be developed in collaboration with industry and engineering experts from around the world, and at the end of it students will have a Masters level qualification.
When completed it will be the only Australian engineering school hosted within a Business faculty.
Prof. Lindsay said the building would feature a small 25-seat auditorium where student engineers could practise pitching their projects.
“There are plenty of places around the country that can produce an engineer who can’t communicate,” Prof. Lindsay said.
“That’s not what we are about. Engineers need to be able to talk to non-engineers.”
He said CSU wants to create engineers who are not afraid of speaking in public and communicating with their clients.
The new school will also have a parents’ room alongside its meeting rooms.
“That is also part of our vision. We don’t want to exclude someone just because they have kids,” he said.
There will not be cubicles and desks, instead there will be spaces to encourage collaboration.
Prof. Lindsay said the framework of the old tractor shed that formerly stood on the site had been retained because the shape reflected the kind of houses children like to draw.
“We were very clear we wanted a place for our engineering students that felt like home,” he said.
“We hope that even when our students are on placement this helps them think of this as their engineering home.”
The building will also contain a gallery featuring a large constantly changing data wall which will serve as an exhibition space for the students’ projects.
Prof. Lindsay said there would be no lectures at the new school, instead the student engineers would work in teams of five on various projects.
“There will be student engineers and academic engineers,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense for us to have lecturers because there are no lectures.”
The academic engineers will be housed upstairs.
There will also be an engineering lounge that will be available for the whole university to use, as well as a balcony and terrace overlooking Mount Panorama.
Applications for the Bachelor of Technology/Master of Engineering (civil systems) course close on September 30.