Engineering Education Update 2016, NSW Key Points Australia needs to produce more of its own engineers to rebalance sources of the supply of engineers and domestic students are the key feeder group in NSW. Entry level courses in engineering in NSW are primarily bachelor degrees complemented by a very small number of associate engineer courses. Bachelor degree commencements by the State s domestic students have continued the upwards trend of recent years and are now at a record level. This contrasts with the national trend which peaked in 2014 and fell in 2015. Nationally, the downturn in entry level commencements began in 2013 when numbers in associate courses fell. This change did not occur in NSW due the predominance of bachelor degrees. There has now been sufficient time for the trend in domestic commencements to be reflected in rising entry level course completions. Completions by domestic students in NSW are now at record levels. The strong growth in commencements should see this trend continue for the foreseeable future. There has been a strong surge in commencements in post graduate courses by domestic students, but to a lesser degree than overseas students. There were more overseas students than domestic students commencing doctoral degrees and four times as many commencing coursework masters degrees. Completions of post graduate courses by domestic students have fallen in each of the last two years. The proportion of women among domestic students has slowly increased over time, having experienced some reduction in the middle of last decade. The increase is too small to address diversity objectives. Women engineers demonstrate a high propensity to undertake post graduate courses in engineering. There has been a surge in the number of overseas students studying engineering in NSW in recent years. Overseas students account for 30.6% of entry level course completions and 57.2% of post graduate course completions. Completions of bachelor degrees fell back to the 2013 level after a record year in 2014. Completions of coursework masters degrees recorded strong growth. Engineering education trends in NSW for domestic students were static until 2009 but have now convincingly moved beyond that phase, particularly at entry level. The proportion of overseas students has increased over time driven by increased post graduate courses. The NSW trend in commencement of entry level courses in engineering by domestic students continues to increase whereas at national level it has fallen for two years. For completions the two trends have moved closely together. After leading national growth in post graduate course commencements by domestic students for many years, the NSW and national trends converged last year. The NSW trend in post graduate course completions has slowed sharply relative to the national trend. Background Australia sources new engineers from completions of engineering courses by domestic students and from skilled migration. Statistics on both sources are closely monitored at national level to assist national policy development and to facilitate the development of statistical profiles of the engineering profession. This Note provides an update on university engineering education in NSW. Longitudinal Engineers Australia Public Affairs: publicaffairs@engineersaustralia.org.au newsroom.engineersaustralia.org.au @EngAustralia
statistics show that inter-state mobility of engineers and skilled workers generally is not high. In other words, the number of engineers educated in NSW is an important contributor to the State s engineering labour force. Statistics relating to both domestic and international students are discussed. Domestic students are citizens and permanent residents and upon course completion can draw on their qualification to join the engineering labour market without further formality. Overseas students study in Australia on temporary student visas and are typically full fee paying students. In the Australian national accounts, the revenue derived from overseas students is treated as a form of export earnings and is an important financial resource for Australian universities. However, overseas students cannot join the Australian engineering labour market unless they are granted either a permanent or temporary skilled migration visa. Obtaining these visas is easier than it once was. Many overseas students apply for and are granted on-shore visas while completing the last stages of their course. Sometimes these students do not return to home countries but remain in Australia. But the fact remains that they can only do so after being granted a skilled migration visa. Statistics on overseas students are covered in the discussion to provide an indication of their impact on the engineering education system and as background against which migration statistics can be evaluated. Domestic Students Domestic students starting engineering courses in NSW is the feeder group for home grown engineers. Commencement and completion statistics for the State from 2001 to 2015 are presented in Tables 1 and 2. All level of courses from doctorates to undergraduate enabling courses are included in the Table which is also presented by gender. The statistics in the Tables include the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra which is treated as part of the University of NSW in official statistical collections. It is useful to differentiate between entry level courses that provide admission to the engineering profession and post-graduate courses that deepen the knowledge of already qualified engineers. Entry level courses in NSW are primarily degree courses in engineering for professional engineers and engineering technologists and associate degrees and advanced diplomas for associate engineers. Commencements in entry level engineering courses by domestic students contracted in the first half of the last decade. Since 2006, however, these commencements have been increasing strongly. This change is illustrated in Figure 1. Nearly all entry level courses were bachelor degrees and associate degree and advanced diploma commencements were small. Increasing numbers of entry level commencements were also reflected in the share of these courses in all commencements rising over time. By 2015, 79.8% of engineering course commencements were entry level courses. page 2
Table 1: Domestic Students Commencing Engineering and Related Technologies Courses in NSW Men Doctoral 132 152 150 177 147 130 139 146 159 180 163 147 165 174 154 Research masters 70 78 82 101 83 70 53 146 78 70 57 71 64 77 59 Coursework masters 361 439 420 338 324 326 339 399 562 590 548 548 545 537 481 Other postgraduate 328 310 332 282 347 270 288 347 374 365 366 347 417 356 250 Bachelors 2518 2438 2438 2386 2412 2453 2618 2856 3084 3075 3352 3620 3917 3830 4269 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 6 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 43 62 54 57 <5 33 107 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 38 46 48 53 64 117 104 129 128 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 15 14 0 0 0 Total 3415 3421 3422 3284 3313 3249 3475 3940 4348 4416 4619 4921 5216 5136 5448 Women Doctoral 36 56 45 42 33 37 38 36 54 70 44 54 48 65 65 Research masters 9 20 15 21 25 15 20 36 19 18 16 23 17 16 11 Coursework masters 85 95 82 82 68 93 87 98 111 122 117 93 135 114 113 Other postgraduate 83 77 91 73 99 98 85 102 96 94 100 80 101 73 68 Bachelors 479 444 372 398 327 360 422 473 519 562 562 606 694 742 886 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 3 5 0 2 15 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 9 10 9 3 8 9 17 9 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 <5 0 0 0 Total 693 693 605 616 552 603 662 754 813 878 848 873 1004 1029 1167 All domestic students Doctoral 168 208 195 219 180 167 177 182 213 250 207 201 213 239 219 Research masters 79 98 97 122 108 85 73 182 97 88 73 94 81 93 70 Coursework masters 446 534 502 420 392 419 426 497 673 712 665 641 680 651 594 Other postgraduate 411 387 423 355 446 368 373 449 470 459 466 427 518 429 318 Bachelors 2997 2882 2810 2784 2739 2813 3040 3329 3603 3637 3914 4226 4611 4572 5155 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 7 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 47 63 57 62 0 35 122 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 48 55 58 62 67 125 113 146 137 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 18 14 0 0 0 Total 4108 4114 4027 3900 3865 3852 4137 4694 5161 5294 5467 5794 6220 6165 6615 Table 2: Domestic Students Completing Engineering and Related Technologies Courses in NSW Men Doctoral 85 125 99 109 117 139 150 186 147 129 109 137 167 138 169 Research masters 33 23 23 35 18 47 39 39 27 20 26 26 37 19 30 Coursework masters 336 322 285 264 279 261 251 252 291 419 443 439 472 502 431 Other postgraduate 102 112 129 102 95 139 125 126 143 132 132 125 153 145 134 Bachelors 1487 1300 1417 1520 1487 1424 1402 1453 1336 1501 1527 1521 1621 1770 1877 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 12 19 8 10 17 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 17 28 29 41 59 90 63 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 2046 1888 1953 2030 1996 2010 1967 2057 1967 2237 2278 2308 2517 2674 2721 Women Doctoral 20 19 40 31 37 40 34 56 40 28 31 37 54 44 57 Research masters 2 8 9 5 8 13 8 8 6 6 12 < 5 8 11 14 Coursework masters 81 73 67 51 69 49 74 63 78 102 83 87 102 111 105 Other postgraduate 30 28 44 45 30 24 59 51 36 54 33 33 41 33 35 Bachelors 294 260 264 269 307 267 221 220 244 236 248 252 273 334 325 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 < 5 < 5 1 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 7 < 5 < 5 6 < 5 8 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 428 389 424 401 451 393 398 400 406 433 409 413 485 537 545 All completing domestic students Doctoral 105 144 139 140 154 179 184 242 187 157 140 174 221 182 226 Research masters 35 31 32 40 26 60 47 47 33 26 38 29 45 30 44 Coursework masters 417 395 352 315 348 310 325 315 369 521 526 526 574 613 536 Other postgraduate 132 140 173 147 125 163 184 177 179 186 165 158 194 178 169 Bachelors 1781 1560 1681 1789 1794 1691 1623 1673 1580 1737 1775 1773 1894 2104 2202 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 4 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 12 19 9 11 18 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 19 35 31 42 65 93 71 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 2474 2277 2377 2431 2447 2403 2365 2457 2373 2670 2687 2721 3002 3211 3266 page 3
Figure 1 also illustrates the trend in completions of entry level courses by domestic students from Table 2. Readers are cautioned against interpreting the ratio of completions to commencements as a measure of course success. To measure course success, it is essential to follow through annual cohorts of commencements over time. Commencing students can switch between full time to part time studies, between a single and double degree program and between faculties of study. Each of these changes affects completion outcomes. The downwards trend in course commencements in the first half of the last decade affected the trend in course completions until 2000. Although subsequently, completions did not recover to the 2001 level until 2011. Since then completions have increased solidly and by 2015 were 2,220, an increase of 5.0% on the previous year. The strong rise in entry level course commencements in NSW suggests that completions will continue to increase in the foreseeable future. Figure 2 illustrates the trends in commencements and completions of post graduate courses in engineering by domestic students. The same caution about understanding the relationship between these trends applies. page 4
Commencements in post graduate courses increased to peak at 1,509 in 2010 and have since fallen unevenly. In 2015, there were 1,201 commencements by domestic students in these courses, accounting for 18.2% of all commencements that year compared to a long term average of 26.4%. The largest number of commencements occurred in coursework masters degrees and these commencements and those in other post graduate courses were the main sources of variability over time. Completions of post graduate courses were less variable than commencements, but were comparatively flat until about 2007. Since then there has been variable growth. In 2015, there were 975 post graduate course completions, down 2.8% over 2014 which was down 3.0% over the previous year. Overseas Students Overseas students studying engineering offer the prospects of export revenue for universities and a potential pool for on-shore skilled migration to draw upon. The composition of both commencements and completions are quite different for this group compared to domestic students. Although quite large numbers of overseas students undertake entry level courses, even larger numbers undertake coursework masters programs. Many of the latter see this approach as enhancing their prospects for obtaining a migration visa. Following the approach adopted above, Tables 3 and 4 present commencement and completion statistics for overseas students in NSW. Table 3: Overseas Students Commencing Engineering and Related Technologies Courses in NSW Men Doctoral 77 66 74 73 77 107 115 149 186 217 258 253 272 282 280 Research masters 32 33 44 59 46 45 51 43 45 68 76 72 53 71 53 Coursework masters 471 573 739 674 581 486 590 689 920 931 851 799 1072 1295 1716 Other postgraduate 44 68 49 46 54 54 32 42 53 57 62 64 48 36 82 Bachelors 798 1068 1077 920 762 830 835 827 1018 1132 1176 1122 1190 1212 1379 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 18 20 17 15 28 28 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 77 81 129 158 180 161 250 258 324 Other undergraduate 0 0 42 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 1422 1809 2025 1772 1520 1522 1700 1831 2356 2581 2623 2488 2900 3182 3862 Women Doctoral 19 13 13 24 14 29 20 40 71 63 90 74 97 124 73 Research masters 9 9 10 8 12 15 20 14 24 28 29 29 23 26 16 Coursework masters 107 125 154 164 125 99 127 173 198 240 228 220 240 326 534 Other postgraduate 10 11 12 7 8 14 9 9 13 17 18 10 16 12 23 Bachelors 154 224 189 187 144 173 162 153 221 262 289 277 277 340 431 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 <5 < 5 0 1 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 15 22 14 10 15 20 26 Other undergraduate 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 299 382 394 390 303 330 338 401 542 638 669 622 670 848 1104 All overseas students Doctoral 96 79 87 97 91 136 135 189 257 280 348 327 369 406 353 Research masters 41 42 54 67 58 60 71 57 69 96 105 101 76 97 69 Coursework masters 578 698 893 838 706 585 717 862 1118 1171 1079 1019 1312 1621 2250 Other postgraduate 54 79 61 53 62 68 41 51 66 74 80 74 64 48 105 Bachelors 952 1292 1266 1107 906 1003 997 980 1239 1394 1465 1399 1467 1552 1810 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 24 21 17 15 28 29 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 77 93 144 180 194 171 265 278 350 Other undergraduate 0 0 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 1721 2191 2419 2162 1823 1852 2038 2232 2898 3219 3292 3108 3568 4030 4966 page 5
Table 4: Overseas Students Completing Engineering and Related Technologies Courses in NSW Men Doctoral 33 39 29 45 60 79 76 41 57 83 117 123 148 190 147 Research masters 17 15 8 19 22 45 33 25 25 27 40 41 36 41 26 Coursework masters 311 415 610 569 568 495 481 470 663 814 882 725 740 790 883 Other postgraduate 12 20 20 21 44 36 32 26 24 24 41 30 29 25 44 Bachelors 445 445 537 559 570 496 457 535 427 558 580 608 706 767 686 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 < 5 10 5 5 < 5 8 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 15 13 27 98 134 129 118 199 185 Other undergraduate 0 0 40 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 819 935 1244 1213 1264 1151 1094 1110 1223 1605 1804 1661 1782 2013 1979 Women Doctoral 11 4 10 13 13 13 16 12 16 21 20 40 58 53 49 Research masters 7 2 4 4 6 10 8 11 7 15 16 22 15 13 23 Coursework masters 120 111 127 135 148 111 88 119 166 205 219 205 197 217 229 Other postgraduate 1 3 6 2 10 7 7 5 7 9 15 < 5 7 < 5 12 Bachelors 89 110 119 121 121 115 111 124 105 125 111 127 169 223 201 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 < 5 0 0 1 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 2 8 21 9 9 18 25 Other undergraduate 0 0 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 228 230 277 275 298 256 233 273 303 388 402 409 455 526 540 All completing overseas students Doctoral 44 43 39 58 73 92 92 53 73 104 137 163 206 243 196 Research masters 24 17 12 23 28 55 41 36 32 42 56 63 51 54 49 Coursework masters 431 526 737 704 716 606 569 589 829 1019 1101 930 937 1007 1112 Other postgraduate 13 23 26 23 54 43 39 31 31 33 56 34 36 27 56 Bachelors 534 555 656 680 691 611 568 659 532 683 691 735 875 990 887 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 10 7 5 < 5 9 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 15 29 106 155 138 127 217 210 Other undergraduate 0 0 51 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 1047 1165 1521 1488 1562 1407 1327 1383 1526 1993 2206 2070 2237 2539 2519 Entry level commencements by overseas students experienced high numbers during 2002 to 2004 inclusive, but then assumed a lower plateau for four years at about the 2001 level. From 2009 onwards, there was solid growth in entry level commencements so that by 2015 they had grown to 1,839, up 16.4% over 2014 and 48% higher than in 2009. Completions of entry level courses by overseas students were fairly flat through to 2010. In the last four years there has been solid but variable growth. In 2015, completions of these courses fell 9.5% to 896 from 990 the previous year. Post graduate commencements began to ratchet upwards from about 2009, increasing from 1,510 to 2,777. The 2015 increase was 27.9% over the previous year and was higher than average growth over the previous three years of 22.3%. Post graduate completions followed a similar pattern but at a lower level. In 2015, 1,413 overseas students completed post graduate courses in engineering, up 6.2% on the previous year. This result compares to 975 completions of these courses by domestic students. Both doctoral and coursework masters degree programs were drivers of the overseas student result. page 6
Gender Engineering is a male dominated profession and change has been slow. In the 2006 census, there were 10.6% women in the engineering labour force and just 8.2% women engineers employed in engineering occupations. By 2011, the proportion of women in the engineering labour force had increased to 11.8% and to 9.7% of engineers employed in engineering occupations. These results persisted despite higher proportions of women commencing and completing entry level courses in engineering. The situation in NSW is illustrated in Figure 4. Although there was a period of falling women s share of entry level course commencements during the early years of last decade, the NSW share averaged 14.5% over the fifteen years examined. Similarly, the NSW women s share of domestic entry level course completions has averaged 15.0%. In 2015, the share of commencements was 17.1% and the share of completions was 14.7%. Figure 4 shows that women engineers have a higher propensity to undertake post graduate studies. Women accounted for on average 20.1% of domestic post graduate course commencements and an average 20.4% of post graduate course completions. In 2015, these shares were 21.4% and 21.6%, respectively. Overall Situation Tables 5 and 6 combine the two groups of students attending engineering courses to track the scale of the education task undertaken. Table 5 shows that overall engineering course commencements tracked at or about 6,000 from 2001 until 2007. In 2008, there was a pronounced increase establishing an upwards trend that is still continuing. In 2008, there were 6,926 commencements and by 2015 this had increased to 11,581. On average 63.5% of commencements were at entry level, slightly lower in 2015 at 61.4%. On average 34.6% of commencements were post graduate courses with 2015 close to average. On average, 35.5% of course commencements were by overseas students, somewhat higher in 2015 when the share was 42.9%. On average 26.3% of entry level courses commenced and 50.5% of post graduate courses commenced were overseas students. page 7
Table 5: Students Commencing Engineering and Related Technologies Courses in NSW, by Residency Domestic students Doctoral 168 208 195 219 180 167 177 182 213 250 207 201 213 239 219 Research masters 79 98 97 122 108 85 73 182 97 88 73 94 81 93 70 Coursework masters 446 534 502 420 392 419 426 497 673 712 665 641 680 651 594 Other postgraduate 411 387 423 355 446 368 373 449 470 459 466 427 518 429 318 Bachelors 2997 2882 2810 2784 2739 2813 3040 3329 3603 3637 3914 4226 4611 4572 5155 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 7 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 47 63 57 62 0 35 122 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 48 55 58 62 67 125 113 146 137 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 18 14 0 0 0 Total 4108 4114 4027 3900 3865 3852 4137 4694 5161 5294 5467 5794 6220 6165 6615 Overseas students Doctoral 96 79 87 97 91 136 135 189 257 280 348 327 369 406 353 Research masters 41 42 54 67 58 60 71 57 69 96 105 101 76 97 69 Coursework masters 578 698 893 838 706 585 717 862 1118 1171 1079 1019 1312 1621 2250 Other postgraduate 54 79 61 53 62 68 41 51 66 74 80 74 64 48 105 Bachelors 952 1292 1266 1107 906 1003 997 980 1239 1394 1465 1399 1467 1552 1810 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 24 21 17 15 28 29 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 77 93 144 180 194 171 265 278 350 Other undergraduate 0 0 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 1721 2191 2419 2162 1823 1852 2038 2232 2898 3219 3292 3108 3568 4030 4966 All commencing students Doctoral 264 287 282 316 271 303 312 371 470 530 555 528 582 645 572 Research masters 120 140 151 189 166 145 144 239 166 184 178 195 157 190 139 Coursework masters 1024 1232 1395 1258 1098 1004 1143 1359 1791 1883 1744 1660 1992 2272 2844 Other postgraduate 465 466 484 408 508 436 414 500 536 533 546 501 582 477 423 Bachelors 3949 4174 4076 3891 3645 3816 4037 4309 4842 5031 5379 5625 6078 6124 6965 Ass degrees & Adv diplomas 7 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 52 87 78 79 15 63 151 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 125 148 202 242 261 296 378 424 487 Other undergraduate 0 0 58 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 18 14 0 0 0 Total 5829 6305 6446 6062 5688 5704 6175 6926 8059 8513 8759 8902 9788 10195 11581 Table 6: Students Completing Engineering and Related Technologies Courses in NSW, by Residency Domestic Doctoral 105 144 139 140 154 179 184 242 187 157 140 174 221 182 226 Research masters 35 31 32 40 26 60 47 47 33 26 38 29 45 30 44 Coursework masters 417 395 352 315 348 310 325 315 369 521 526 526 574 613 536 Other postgraduate 132 140 173 147 125 163 184 177 179 186 165 158 194 178 169 Bachelors 1781 1560 1681 1789 1794 1691 1623 1673 1580 1737 1775 1773 1894 2104 2202 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 4 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 8 12 19 9 11 18 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 19 35 31 42 65 93 71 Other undergraduate 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 2474 2277 2377 2431 2447 2403 2365 2457 2373 2670 2687 2721 3002 3211 3266 Overseas Doctoral 44 43 39 58 73 92 92 53 73 104 137 163 206 243 196 Research masters 24 17 12 23 28 55 41 36 32 42 56 63 51 54 49 Coursework masters 431 526 737 704 716 606 569 589 829 1019 1101 930 937 1007 1112 Other postgraduate 13 23 26 23 54 43 39 31 31 33 56 34 36 27 56 Bachelors 534 555 656 680 691 611 568 659 532 683 691 735 875 990 887 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 10 7 5 < 5 9 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 15 29 106 155 138 127 217 210 Other undergraduate 0 0 51 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 1047 1165 1521 1488 1562 1407 1327 1383 1526 1993 2206 2070 2237 2539 2519 All completing students Doctoral 149 187 178 198 227 271 276 295 260 261 277 337 427 425 422 Research masters 59 48 44 63 54 115 88 83 65 68 94 92 96 84 93 Coursework masters 848 921 1089 1019 1064 916 894 904 1198 1540 1627 1456 1511 1620 1648 Other postgraduate 145 163 199 170 179 206 223 208 210 219 221 192 230 205 225 Bachelors 2315 2115 2337 2469 2485 2302 2191 2332 2112 2420 2466 2508 2769 3094 3089 Assoc degrees & Adv diplomas 5 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 14 22 26 14 12 27 Diplomas 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 18 48 141 186 180 192 310 281 Other undergraduate 0 0 51 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total 3521 3442 3898 3919 4009 3810 3692 3840 3899 4663 4893 4791 5239 5750 5785 Engineering course completions were at or below about 4,000 until 2009. In 2010 they increased sharply to 4,663 and have continued to increase since. In 2015, there were 5,785 engineering course completions. On average entry level courses were 57.6% of completions, slightly lower in 2015 at 53.9%. On average post graduate courses were 40.5% of completions, slightly higher in 2015 at 41.3%. Overseas students completions accounted for on average 39.3%, but this share has been increasing over time. In 2015 it was 43.5%. On average, completions by overseas students were 27.8% of entry level course completions and 53.8% of post graduate course completions. In 2015, both shares were higher; 28.8% for entry level and 59.2% for post graduate. How Does NSW compare to National Trends? This section aims to compare how NSW commencements and completions of engineering courses compare to national changes. Although NSW is the largest jurisdiction, there is a large scale difference between the State statistics and national counterparts. To facilitate comparison, we converted the two sets of statistics into index number form based on 2001. Figure 5 compares NSW and national entry level course statistics and Figure 6 compares post graduate course statistics. page 8
In Figure 5, national commencements and completions are illustrated by the solid blue and green lines respectively and the NSW counterparts are illustrated by the dashed blue and green lines. We observe that until 2013, NSW commencements in entry level courses in engineering tracked the national trend quite closely. However, the two trends diverged from then on. Although NSW commencements fell in 2014, this change was small compared to the corresponding national change. Growth resumed in NSW in 2015 but contraction intensified at national level. Since 2007, NSW and national completions of entry level courses have tracked relatively close together but with greater variability in the State figures. Although the State completions trend has turned down it remains within the band of variability from past years. At this stage, it is too early to suggest any difference between the State and national trends. Figure 6 compares NSW and national trends in the commencement and completion of post graduate courses in engineering. The blue lines illustrate trends in commencements. Since 2013, change in NSW commencements in post graduate courses in engineering has been slower than at national level. The extent of the difference suggests a different trend has emerged in NSW. page 9
For some years, completions of post graduate courses in engineering in NSW tracked well ahead of the national trend. Since 2012, this difference has been diminishing and the national trend overtook the State trend in 2014. Contact: Andre Kaspura Engineers Australia Public Affairs publicaffairs@engineersaustralia.org.au @EngAustralia page 10