Myanmar-Australia Knowledge Exchange in Professional Engineering Education

Future challenges and opportunities

On Monday 7 October, the Myanmar Engineering Council organised the inaugural ‘Industry-Education Dialogue’, an event aimed at facilitating conversation about the future of the engineering profession in Myanmar and Australia. Panellists from education institutions in Myanmar and Australia discussed future challenges and opportunities in engineering. In both countries, technological advances, innovation and societal changes have an impact on what the engineering needs of the future will be.  At the Dialogue, industry and education representatives discussed how to best prepare graduates for the rapidly changing engineering needs and careers in the future, and the role of continuous professional development. They also discussed the best way forward for industry and education to work together to best prepare students for a lifelong career as professional engineers.

The events continued with a professional development workshop on 8 and 9 October at the Myanmar Engineering Council. At the workshop, UTS and UNSW engaged with academics from key universities in Myanmar on the topic of educating students to tackle future engineering challenges. A particular focus of the workshop was on assessment and sharing examples of problem-based and industry learning, and assessment of these learning experiences.

This is the second professional development workshop that UTS and UNSW have run together, organised by the Myanmar Engineering Council, and with broader support from Myanmar education. The workshop again offered a great opportunity to reflect on current practices in both countries, to share knowledge and learn from each other.

The dialogue and event offered a fantastic opportunity to exchange experiences on professional engineering education in each country. Both countries are invested in ensuring the best professional preparation for graduating engineers, an experience that enables early industry experience and practical learning.

Professor Roger Hadgraft, Director, Educational Innovation and Research