Innovation in Engineering Education at the University of South Australia

This year sees the 10 Anniversary of the University of South Australia (UniSA), formed in 1991 by the amalgamation of two institutions: the South Australian Institute of Technology (SAIT) and the South Australian College of Advanced Education (SACAE). The SAIT had a tradition of vocational and professional preparation for business, science and engineering. The SACAE had emerged from the successive integration of colleges mainly focused on teacher education, but with significant diversification including art and design, business plus other humanities-based vocations. Through the late 1970s and the 1980s, there was a strong requirement from directorate level within the SAIT, and hence in the engineering schools, for outcome-oriented curricula and assessment, descriptive programme and course documentation derived from clearly enunciated rationales, and teaching and learning practices that were informed and shaped by these. It is only fair to say that there were also strong conservative forces within the engineering and contributing science and business schools that favoured traditional teaching methods and resisted innovation. The accreditation processes of The Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEAust) have also tended to inhibit radical rethinking and change. Innovation in Engineering Education at the University of South Australia