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Engineering Closure To Have Ripple Effect For Gippsland

Engineering Closure To Have Ripple Effect For Gippsland
• This battle's not over yet!	Alistair Carr
• A message for the former President of the Student Union at Monash University, Gippsland Campus	Alistair Carr
• The Latrobe Valley Is Being Hurt Again	Wendy Brown
• Engineering Closure - From The Perspective Of A Monash Student	Vanessa Burrow

Engineering Closure To Have Ripple Effect For Gippsland
support@gippsland.com	31/10/2002
This forum has automatically been created for the news article "Engineering Closure To Have Ripple Effect For Gippsland". You can read the article here. To post your comments use the 'Reply' icon.

This battle's not over yet!
Alistair Carr	3/11/2002
It looks as if a poor decision has been made on this, but if we in the Gippsland community want Engineering education to continue here, then let's make ourselves heard - loud and clear - - far and wide - during the forthcoming State Election campaign. Politicians are learning to pay attention to Rural and Regional Australia ("RARA"). Is NOW the time for universities to learn to do likewise? If issues like above ground power pylons in South Gippsland highway bypasses merit special attention by the State Government, then surely *engineering education does too !!! ??? Best wishes for a successful campaign, to retain Engineering at Churchill. >This forum has automatically been created for the news article "Engineering Closure To Have Ripple Effect For Gippsland". You can read the article here. > >To post your comments use the 'Reply' icon.

A message for the former President of the Student Union at Monash University, Gippsland Campus
Alistair Carr	4/11/2002
As I understand it, Andrew, this is an ATTEMPT to undermine engineering education in Gippsland. Although you are right to be alarmed, and the signs look bad, it's not over by a long way, just yet. Let's see how the Gippsland community responds in support of university education here. The Gippsland campus should be one of the "jewels" of this region. Long may it prosper. I hope that ultimately engineering education, so vital to our industries and daily lives, will live again and develop further at Churchill and beyond. The politicians have recently begun to take notice of RARA ("Rural & Regional Australia"). I dare say NOW is an ideal time for universities to do likewise !!! Best wishes, Alistair Carr

The Latrobe Valley Is Being Hurt Again
Wendy Brown	4/11/2002
I think the idea of closing the Monash Gippsland Engineering department is deplorable! It is a known fact that this Engineering school is one of the best in Australia, and many very successful engineers have graduated from here. there are students I know of who will find it financially impossible to study at Clayton. Bang goes their career! Are dollars and cents more important than a clever country?

Engineering Closure - From The Perspective Of A Monash Student
Vanessa Burrow	4/11/2002
As a journalism student at Monash University’s Gippsland Campus, I’ve criticised my fair share of engineers. "Always drinking too much", or "you can tell who the engineers are", we say. It’s a long-standing tradition that journalists – or ‘scum’ as they like to call us – and the engineers maintain an intense rivalry. In fact, students in various faculties have an established rivalry with them. ‘Bridge builders’ they are contemptuously labelled. But maybe that rivalry won’t be around for long. At least not at the Gippsland campus. The news is that Monash intends to shut down the Gippsland engineering program, consolidating it in the city. In student residences, there are bright yellow sheets posted on the notice boards. "Help save Engineering" they say. Ominously they add, "This is not the first time this has happened. Remember psychology?" The posters encourage all students to protest against the Engineering Faculty being shut down and to attend a campus rally. The issue is not confined to the University though and Monash students are not the only ones protesting the move. Christian Zahra MP, Member for McMillan could be heard on ABC radio recently expressing his dissatisfaction along with other community leaders. The most puzzling thing about a move to close down the Engineering Faculty is that, out of all the subjects offered at Gippsland, engineering makes the most sense. We live amongst power stations and industry. This region supplies over 90% of Victoria’s power. That fact alone seems to suggest that there would be opportunities for engineers here in this region. In contrast, explain why the University runs (and hopefully continues to run) a journalism degree from Gippsland. Journalism is a course where students need access to media outlets and opportunities for journalistic work experience. It isn’t difficult to determine which course is more regionally appropriate. The move is especially puzzling because of the Gippsland campus’s otherwise intense interest in being seen as a regionally focussed university. The Gippsland Campus Review, completed in 1999 recommended an "increasing degree of regional involvement and links, so that the campus would come to be seen much more than hitherto as the University of and for Gippsland". (Monash University Gippsland Academic Plan, 2001-2005, page 9, Italics original). The Academic Plan also based a major element of its aim to "grow the Campus" on "introducing new and regionally relevant multi-disciplinary courses". Which courses could be more regionally relevant than the current engineering program? Dr Ken Spriggs, Director of the Faculty of Engineering at Gippsland strongly emphasises the importance of the Gippsland engineering degree for this region. "If you look at the top people around, such as the current head of Loy Yang, and the Head of the Snowy River scheme… people at the highest levels in the region, they are all our graduates", he said. He believes that the motive behind the efforts to move the engineering degree to Clayton is jealousy. The ‘Ivy League’ universities such as Sydney and Melbourne all provide Mechatronics (a multidisciplinary form of engineering) and that’s why Clayton wants it. "They see it as ‘them and us’", he said. Admittedly, the argument behind the move to eliminate engineering at Gippsland is low enrolments and the subsequent lack of viability of the program. However, a previous downsizing of the faculty caused some of that problem when mechanical, electrical and civil engineering were eradicated. It can’t be too much of a surprise that enrolments are down! In addition, Monash University Gippsland’s Academic Plan, published in August 2001, admitted that Engineering was always going to be a challenging arena. "The market for undergraduate Engineering programs is always likely to remain limited", it said. Instead, the Academic plan outlined other ‘innovative courses’ and ‘niche’ markets for the Faculty to enter. It specifically targeted areas that would be of "regional need and relevance". Unfortunately, if the Engineering Department is shut down, none of these will be realised. If the move to close down the Faculty of Engineering goes ahead at Gippsland, it will be extremely detrimental to the university. Crucial community links with industry will be broken. Previous supporters of the University, such as our political representatives will likely be less effusive with praise for the campus. Most importantly though, those students who have committed to studying, and working in the region will be displaced. Students with skills that are of such obvious benefit to this area (yes, I can admit it) will be required to go to the city once more. Regional Universities will once again be shown to be of lesser priority than their city counterparts. They may be ‘just’ engineers, but even engineers have a place in society, and Gippsland it would seem, should be one of these.

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