Sustainable?

historically been out of necessity to address advancements in technology as well as economic and social influences. More recently however the flood of specialised engineering degree programs appears to be an obvious marketing strategy to attract high-school students, and as such may not be a sustainable method of evolving engineering education. Students completing high-school are now expected to choose their specific vocation at the commencement of their engineering education. Such programs reduce the students ’ opportunities to reconsider their vocational pathway as their appreciation of engineering matures. In the presence of existing elective courses (already in existence to permit specialisation), the new programs and their new associated courses also increase the workload demands on academic staff, perhaps unnecessarily so. There is also evidence that the popularity of specialised degrees is directly influenced by the immediate health of the relevant industry sector. Defined specialised study pathways (or major streams) in time-tested more traditional programs may be one solution. These may help to retain the core identity of the engineer; provide the graduate with an opportunity to generalise or be precise about their engineering specialisation (thus increasing their employment opportunities); rationalise the need for elective courses; and hence improve the operational efficiency of the school, department or faculty. The objective of this paper is therefore to encourage rigorous debate upon the sustainability and longer term effects of new engineering degree programs