Information for students

The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT) is Australia's leader in practice-oriented engineering and IT education and research, and currently enrols over 11,000 students in industry-recognised courses from undergraduate to doctoral level.

The faculty prides itself on its high level of engagement with the engineering and IT professions locally and internationally, by offering short courses and consulting expertise to the local community, and internationally through its courses offered in Hong Kong and Shanghai, a significant local international student population and a robust student exchange program. FEIT is also the leading research faculty at UTS, with a diverse range of research being undertaken in matrix across the faculty's schools, research centres and institutes.

The faculty structure comprises four portfolio areas in teaching and learning; research and development; international; and external engagement, each led by an Associate Dean. Seven schools house the academic sub-disciplines of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology:

• School of Biomedical Engineering
• School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• School of Computer Science
• School of Electrical and Data Engineering
• School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
• School of Professional Practice and Leadership

Location, contacts and inquiries

The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology is located at City campus in Building 11 and Building 2 (UTS Central), and at Tech Lab, Botany.

Contact details can be found on the faculty's website.

UTS Student Centre

Inquiries from prospective and current students may be directed to:

UTS Student Centre
telephone 1300 ask UTS (1300 275 887) or +61 2 9514 1222
Ask UTS

Inherent requirements

UTS strongly supports the right of all people who wish to undertake a course at the University to pursue their goals and achieve their personal potential. We welcome prospective students with disabilities, and students from diverse social, economic and cultural backgrounds.

An inherent requirement is an academic or non-academic requirement that is inherent in or essential to the successful completion of a course. Inherent requirements statements have been developed for UTS courses to assist prospective and current students to make informed decisions about their study, and to facilitate productive and transparent discussions about career choices.

Additional English language and mathematics requirements

The faculty requires commencing students to undertake English language and mathematics readiness surveys so that the most effective study patterns can be advised. The faculty reserves the right, when appropriate, to require students who are identified as needing additional support to undertake preparatory English language and/or mathematics courses prior to progressing further in the course, or to restrict the level of advanced standing awarded where this is indicated as appropriate by these readiness surveys.

Compulsory safety induction

As part of the faculty's commitment to safety, all engineering and IT students are required to annually complete a safety induction in order to access secure facilities within the faculty. Completion of the safety induction is not required to attend scheduled/supervised lab sessions or use some IT labs during business hours. Students enrolled in an engineering or IT course are automatically given access to the safety induction through Canvas (FEIT – Safety and Wellbeing Essentials Module).

Students from outside the faculty who enrol in engineering or IT subjects and need access to secure faculty facilities must contact the faculty to enrol in the FEIT – Safety and Wellbeing Essentials Module.

Faculty graduate attributes

The Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology (FEIT) graduate attributes connect discipline-specific knowledges and self-understanding with capabilities needed in the world. They articulate the dispositions that prepare FEIT graduates as socially responsible professionals and technical experts who can contribute to a sustainable future world.

1. Indigenous Professional Capability:

Preamble: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the first peoples of Australia. They are also the first scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians, and the first practitioners of environmental sustainability and respectful community engagement.

Faculty of Engineering and IT graduates have knowledge of Indigenous Australian contexts to inform their capability to work effectively for and with Indigenous Australians across their professional discipline.

2. Socially Responsible: FEIT graduates are aware of and responsible for social, environmental, economic and ethical contexts and consequences of their work, committed to enacting sustainable futures for all.

3. Design Oriented: FEIT graduates are curious, creative and innovative and define problems within a wider context.

4. Technically Proficient: FEIT graduates are technically knowledgeable and adept in discipline-specific methodologies.

5. Collaborative and Communicative: FEIT graduates are collegial, cooperative, ethical and constructive.

6. Reflective: FEIT graduates are reflective, connected, action-oriented, lifelong learners.

Facilities and support

The new Engineering and IT building opened in mid-2014. It is a state-of-the-art, five-star green building featuring teaching spaces and laboratories of the future. Facilities include collaborative theatres and classrooms; the UTS Data Arena – 3D visualisation arena; and a Software Development Studio for industry collaboration. The faculty has a strong commitment to providing an effective and supportive learning environment for its students. The building also houses the Remote Laboratory, one of the first of its kind in the world, enabling students to conduct experiments in real time on real experimental equipment via the internet. State-of-the-art labs within the faculty include the Civil Engineering Lab which houses the Shaker Table, the only earthquake simulator of its size in Australia. Engineering students have access to both university computing laboratories as well as a number of faculty computing laboratories adapted for specific courses. The FEIT Learning Precinct is located in Building 11 on Level 5. It provides access to tutors for individual and small group support, reference material, and software and hardware resources on a drop-in basis, and is open for extended hours.

Bridging courses

UTS provides bridging courses in chemistry, mathematics and physics for students who do not meet the assumed knowledge requirements of their course. Bridging courses are usually offered in February, between enrolment and the commencement of classes.

Professional bodies in engineering

Engineers Australia

Engineers Australia is the principal professional body for engineers in Australia and accreditation authority for tertiary engineering education in Australia and overseas.

Professionals Australia

Professionals Australia provides advice and assistance to engineers and other professionals on workplace matters.

Women in Engineering and IT program

The Women in Engineering and IT (WiEIT) program at UTS is a long-standing initiative to redress the low rate of female participation in the field by communicating the opportunities of engineering and ICT (information and communications technology) careers as a course of study; by promoting the involvement of women in the course, the faculty and in research at UTS; and by networking with professionals from engineering and ICT fields and professional organisations. The program also seeks to address attitudes and behaviours which may deter students and staff from achieving, in a safe and rewarding learning, research and working environment.

The WiEIT program invites students, staff and industry to support its ongoing activities and contribute ideas for new initiatives which will attract and support more women to choose to study engineering and IT.

Practice-oriented engineering education

What does it mean?

Practice-oriented engineering education requires students to experience the reality of engineering from an early stage in their professional formation — through internship. It actively relates this experience to their developing understanding of engineering theory, analysis and laboratory work, and to studies in other disciplines, and it promotes critical and creative thinking based on knowledge gained outside as well as within the University. This interaction requires that most academic staff have significant experience of engineering practice and keep it constantly refreshed. Educational programs in which students or a majority of staff do not have current experience cannot validly be called practice-oriented.

Practice-oriented education is more than practice and more than education. A university education should instil a thorough grasp of fundamental principles, a respect for knowledge, a capacity for critical inquiry and lateral thinking, a fluency in communication, a pride in excellence and an eagerness to contribute to shaping the future. Practice-oriented engineering education claims that these attributes can be more effective when they have been developed in parallel with the human and technical challenge of real engineering situations.

Engineering education at UTS

In Australia, the basic qualification for professional engineering is the Bachelor of Engineering (BE) degree. At most universities, the BE occupies four years of full-time academic study. At UTS, as well as completing the academic program comprising a Bachelor of Engineering with an Honours component, all undergraduate engineering students must gain substantial approved engineering experience in industry or in other authentic professional settings. This experience must be distributed over the period of the course and must meet standards of quality and relevance. This experience is recognised in the award of a Diploma in Professional Engineering Practice (DipProfEngPrac). The combined BE(Hons) DipProfEngPrac degree takes five years to complete.

Graduates of most university engineering courses need up to two years' experience in industry, after graduation, before they are able to assume real responsibility. Engineering graduates have already gained much of this experience together with a real understanding of the interrelations between theory and practice, technology and human factors. They are equipped to undertake professional responsibility much sooner than graduates of other courses at other universities — often upon graduating.

The combination of formal academic learning in the University and experiential learning in the workplace is called cooperative education. Engineering courses have embodied this principle for over 30 years. The courses are highly regarded in industry and, according to many reports and surveys, the graduates enjoy the highest employment rate of any engineering degree courses in Australia. Cooperative education is also well known and highly regarded in other countries, particularly in North America. UTS is a member of the World Council for Cooperative Education.

The UTS BE(Hons) DipProfEngPrac realises the concept of practice-oriented engineering education as holistic professional formation and leads to the combined award of Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Diploma in Professional Engineering Practice. Students' perception of the value of the periods spent employed in industry — the internships — is illustrated by the very high percentage of students who choose to continue to mix work and study even after completing the formal internship requirements.

Other Engineering courses, undergraduate and postgraduate, are also designed to interact strongly with industry, though the work-experience requirements are mostly less structured than those of the BE(Hons) DipProfEngPrac. In all programs, the majority of students already have significant industrial experience or are gaining it concurrently. UTS: Engineering has policies for maximising opportunity for its academic staff to maintain first-hand experience in industry and engages many practising engineers as adjunct teaching staff. It also strongly encourages collaborative research and consultancy with industry and many of its research students are industry-based. The predominant culture, therefore, is strongly practice-oriented and this also benefits the relatively small number of students who do not yet have engineering work experience.

In all of its activities, Engineering seeks to promote a better understanding of the role of engineering in society and to promote and support service to the community through other channels as well as industry.

Continuing professional education

Practising engineers wishing to undertake continuing professional education may, if class sizes permit, enrol in single subjects. All enrolments on this non-award basis incur full-cost recovery fees. Their successful completion creates the possibility of advanced standing credit under existing University policies, should candidates decide to enrol in a course.

In addition, in-house short courses, seminars, workshops and other professional development programs are offered from time to time, frequently in response to corporate invitations or opportunities arising from visits by international experts.

Short courses

Playground safety, design, maintenance and inspection

UTS offers short courses on playground safety, design, maintenance and inspection. These courses include:

• Outdoor Playground Inspectors Course: Routine Inspections Level 1
• Outdoor Playground Inspectors Course: Operational Inspection Level 2
• Outdoor Playground Inspectors Course: Comprehensive Inspection Level 3

David Eager
Assistant Student Ombud
Professor Risk Management and Injury Prevention

Floodplain Risk Management

The Floodplain Risk Management subject is aimed at elected local government councillors, community representatives on floodplain risk management committees, engineers and planners in both government and consultancies seeking a background in floodplain risk management and associated land use planning issues.

This course is conducted by UTS in conjunction with the:

• Floodplain Management Association, and
• Office of Environment and Heritage.

Taught by industry experts, including those from the Office of Environment and Heritage, the NSW Emergency Service, local government and consultancy, this course shows how to develop and implement floodplain risk management in accordance with the Floodplain Development Manual.

Courses available:

• Introduction to Floodplain Risk Management
• Managing Flood Risk to Existing Property
• Effective Consideration of Flood Risk in Land using Planning.

Jaya Kandasamy
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater