Women make up roughly 17% of undergraduate engineering students at the University of New South Wales. While this figure makes UNSW a national leader in its success at encouraging women into engineering, the Faculty aims to have a much greater number of women participating in engineering studies.

There are plenty of reasons for women to choose engineering as a career. It is a profession that offers a wide variety of opportunities including opportunities to work with and supervise other engineers and professionals. Prospects for well paid, interesting work for our engineering graduates in Australia and overseas, are excellent.

Women form more than half the population and have their own insights into society's problems and needs. Engineering is about solving problems. To do that properly, engineering needs to include the expertise and perspectives of women as well as men.

While engineers are responsible for the design and safe operation of bridges, dams, railways, heavy machinery and mines they also do a whole lot more. The engineering profession is now more varied than it has been in the past. A successful engineer today needs to have a variety of talents. An engineer must be able to work well with other people from various occupations and backgrounds - in teams and as project managers. Engineers will often have to deal with broader concerns than the purely technical, such as community attitudes to new developments and consider the environmental, social and economic aspects of their work. Increasingly, an engineering qualification provides an entree into a broad range of numerate and technical careers.

So what does all this have to do with women in engineering? Basically the profession is moving away from the "old school", masculine image of engineering in favour of an image which reflects the diversity of the society it serves. Women can offer skills in communication and valuable perspectives on the broader implications of engineering projects. As women take up the new challenges offered by a career in engineering they, in turn, enrich the profession bringing with them the benefits of their own life experiences.

Why the University of New South Wales?

Women choose to study engineering at UNSW mostly because of its reputation for excellence both nationally and internationally. This reputation ensures that our graduates are sought after and many graduating students find themselves with a variety of job offers to choose from. The Faculty of Engineering takes pride in its commitment to maintaining high standards of teaching and learning facilities for its students. The University of New South Wales provides a pleasant physical environment in which to study and clubs and societies ensure that any extra-curricular interests are well catered for.

Famous Women in Engineering

We are all very familiar with famous male engineers like Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, film directors Roger Corman, Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock, former US President Jimmy Carter, car maker Henry Ford, and Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. There are also many famous female engineers who have made important contributions to society. Here are just a few.