Internationalisation of Technology and Society course at University of Southern Queensland

Internationalisation of Technology and Society course at University of Southern Queensland

There is growing interest among engineering educators in the question of internationalisation of engineering courses. In this paper the authors first present an analysis of the factors that may cause course designers to internationalise their course material. It is then demonstrated how those factors have influenced the design and delivery of one of the courses offered by the faculty of
Engineering and Surveying at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ). Details of the student profiles and general student feedback on the course are also included. The proportion of off-campus students from South East Asia is very significant.

Technology and Society is a one-semester course that deals with a range of topics in the management of the interface between engineers and the rest of society. It meets the requirement from Engineers Australia that engineering graduates, among other things, should have an
understanding of social, cultural, economic and environmental responsibilities of the professional
engineer in both a local and global context. All engineering students at USQ take it, normally in
the second year of their program. As USQ offers this course both in Australia and overseas, it is important to make the course as international as possible.

The paper argues that that whilst some of the factors lead unquestionably to globalisation of the curriculum, there are others that would lead to localisation of the curriculum. It reviews the process of internationalisation of the course and concludes with a summary of the authors’
experiences with internationalisation so far and some predictions on likely scenarios and outcomes.

No evidence of copyright restrictions. Paper 161.