Preparing students for work in manufacturing

Faculty of Science and Technology

The Geelong Technology Precinct (GTP) recently hosted over 150 students as part of the Technology Showcase Project 729. Project 729 is an initiative created by the Smart Geelong Region Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN) to prepare young people for work in the manufacturing industry, to redress the skills shortage in this sector.

The showcase was held over three days across three different venues, depending on the particular interest of the students. The GTP hosted students who had expressed an interest in undertaking tertiary study, while those with an interest in trade engineering attended Gordon Institute of TAFE. The Ford Discovery Centre displayed a range of new technologies to interested students.

Although the focus of the project was primarily on manufacturing, students were shown skills that can be easily transferred to other industries, such as transport and logistics. Students were involved in various activities and shown the range of skills involved and the diverse career options available to them in engineering. Students at the GTP were taken on a tour of the complex and activity stations were set up showcasing electron microscopy, haptics, wine science, carbon fibre mechanical testing and other facilities housed there.

Project officers at the Smart Geelong Region Local Learning and Employment Network, Jamie McKinnon and Margaret Walker, said students in years 7 to 9 were deliberately targeted for this project to raise the awareness of opportunities available in industry, and to get students thinking about careers in this sector earlier.

‘Perceptions about the industry need to be changed not only by students, but parents and teachers as well,’ Mr McKinnon said.

‘Students need to make sure they are equipped with the right skills before they make their career choices and make these choices earlier. For example, a student would need to have taken the appropriate maths stream throughout school to ensure they could get into their chosen university engineering course – it would be too late by year 10 to make that decision.’

Senior Lecturer at Deakin’s Institute for Technology, Research and Innovation,
Dr Bronwyn Fox, said she was thrilled to be involved in this event, particularly as she was a late convert to engineering.

‘If someone had explained to me earlier on that it wasn't all about building bridges, I would have studied engineering as an undergraduate (rather than as a postgraduate),’ Dr Fox said.

‘There are fantastic career opportunities in engineering that involve design, working in teams and coming up with creative solutions that I just wasn't aware of.’

This was the first time the project has been held and there are plans to make it an annual event, with the potential to increase its frequency in the future.