Bringing design into engineering education

Professor Guy Littlefair, Dean of Deakin's Engineering School and General Chair of the 2015 Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE) Conference, recently talked to Kevin Gomez from Engineers Australia for its member magazine, Create, about the challenges facing engineering education today.

"When I look at engineering programs in Australia and compare them to other areas of the world, I am struck by the fact that so many of our courses are aligned more to the sciences than they are to the design disciplines," said Professor Littlefair.

"The primary function of an engineer is to design and innovate. It's really important that we align our teaching, our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching much more towards the design disciplines than to the science disciplines," he added. 

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The AAEE Conference is one of the largest gatherings of engineering educators in Australasia, bringing together delegates to discuss engineering education research and best practice. More information can be found on the AAEE 2015 Conference website.