More students needed

More students must be encouraged to take up maths and science in schools if the federal government's move to increase university engineering places is to have any effect, the Association of Consulting Engineers Australia (ACEA) has warned.

While the ACEA applauds the Commonwealth government's funding of an additional 500 engineering places at Australian universities from 2008 in addition to the 510 places promised by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), the association said steps must be taken to ensure the quality of candidates is not jeopardised.

ACEA's chief executive, Megan Motto said: "Students must be equipped with the necessary maths and science skills and encouraged to take up these subjects so that we do not experience a reduction in the quality of candidates or even higher university drop-out rates than currently exist.

"The government's announcement means there will be an additional 3540 engineering university graduates over the next four years on top of current placements. This is a significant step forward by the federal government in addressing the supply of engineering skills; however, more work needs to be done by industry, educational institutions and government to ensure the demand meets the supply for these extra engineering places."

ACEA supports a joint approach between industry and government at all tiers to look at issues relating to attracting more students to engineering, especially in secondary schooling.