The career aspirations and other characteristics of Australian para-professional engineering students

Paper

Dowling, David. 2010. "The career aspirations and other characteristics of Australian para-professional engineering students." Gardner, Anne and Jolly, Lesley (ed.) 21st Annual Conference for the Australasian Association of Engineering Education (AAEE 2010). Sydney, Australia 05 - 08 Dec 2010 Sydney, Australia.
Paper/Presentation Title

The career aspirations and other characteristics of Australian para-professional engineering students

Presentation TypePaper
Authors
AuthorDowling, David
EditorsGardner, Anne and Jolly, Lesley
Journal or Proceedings TitleProceedings of the 21st Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE 2010)
Number of Pages8
Year2010
Place of PublicationSydney, Australia
ISBN9780646546100
Web Address (URL) of Paperhttp://aaee.com.au/conferences/AAEE2010/PDF/AUTHOR/AE100061.PDF
Conference/Event21st Annual Conference for the Australasian Association of Engineering Education (AAEE 2010)
Event Details
Rank
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
Event Details
21st Annual Conference for the Australasian Association of Engineering Education (AAEE 2010)
Parent
Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE)
Delivery
In person
Event Date
05 to end of 08 Dec 2010
Event Location
Sydney, Australia
Abstract

During 2010 more than 300 students currently studying a para-professional engineering course at an Australian institution completed an online questionnaire about their educational and work experiences, and their career aspirations. Students from vocational educational and training institutions, universities and two dual-sector institutions across Australia were invited to participate in the study.
This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of some of the raw data from 327 engineering students, 40% of whom are studying an Associate Degree course, 45% an Advanced Diploma, and 15% a Diploma. The key finding was that only 16% of the respondents intend to pursue a career as an Engineering Associate, with 75% indicating that they plan to undertake further studies, and 51% reporting that they have a career goal to become a Professional Engineer. These unexpected results challenge a long-held assumption that students in Australian Advanced Diploma and Associate Degree programs will pursue careers as Engineering Associates.

Keywordsengineering students; career aspirations; paraprofessional engineering students
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020520102. Educational psychology
390303. Higher education
390113. Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy
Public Notes

© 2010 David Dowling. This publication is copyright. It may be reproduced in whole or in part for the purposes of study, research, or review, but is subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgment of the source and permission from the author.

Byline AffiliationsDepartment of Surveying and Land Information
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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