Engineers Australia’s flagship graduate development program has gone virtual and is available internationally for the first time.

Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 18-month course has been redesigned as a completely online learning experience, allowing graduates to continue their professional development from any location. This includes businesses employing graduates anywhere in Australia and Engineers Australia’s overseas chapters; Hong Kong, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, UAE and the UK.

Graduate development has long been identified as a learning and development priority in the engineering industry. Young engineers have acquired the necessary technical skills from tertiary study but can often lack the business acumen and soft skills they need to perform in the workplace.

Engineers Australia’s Graduate Program, delivered by the professional association’s wholly owned training provider Engineering Education Australia, was created to bridge this skills gap and support organisations develop and retain young talent.

Education Manager, Jason Fletcher said the program facilitates early-career engineers’ transition into the world of work.

“Leveraging the expertise and experience of both Engineering Education Australia and Engineers Australia, the program develops the skills and knowledge they need to become professional engineers including project management, problem-solving, communication, self-management, resilience, innovation, and critical thinking.”

Program content is also aligned to the underpinning knowledge and skills engineers need to pursue Chartered status and Graduates also learn how to take responsibility for their own development goals.

“Participants are guided through the process of setting and achieving their own professional development goals, which are broadly aligned to the learning outcomes of the program, and more specifically targeted at the needs of their employers.

“For example, if a participant is working through the Project Management module, their development goals could be related to enhancing their contribution to a project that they are assigned to at work.”

The program is delivered through a mix of flexible online education practices.

“We use experiential and social learning, interactive webinars, virtual workshops, engaging materials with coaching and support, to help participants achieve their best.”

Previously only available as face-to-face workshops, the virtual workshops are designed by education experts from Jason’s team to be highly interactive and collaborative and will be scheduled during business hours across different time zones.

How can you get involved?

The next intake of the Graduate Program commences in September 2021. Visit the Graduate Program webpage to learn more.