Integrating continuing education and undergraduates for flexible learning

The School enjoys a good reputation for the integration of undergraduate and continuing education teaching. It offers a broad range of training programs, which integrate and enhance the learning experience for undergraduates, postgraduates and professional engineers. Research findings and state of the art knowledge are presented by leading academics and practitioners in the form of series of short courses and interactive seminars. The learning group often consists of professional engineers, undertaking continuing education, and postgraduates and undergraduates who are pursuing a specialist field of engineering. Expertise for material and presentation is garnered from industry bodies, government departments, consultants and academia. Industry bodies include the Concrete Masonry Association of Australia, Australian Asphalt Pavement Association, the Cement and Concrete Association of Australia, and the Timber Research and Development Council. Academics are drawn from both national and international universities linked with the School and QUT. The School melds this deep pool of knowledge and expertise into quality training programs for all levels of the profession. The success of the combined courses has found to be dependent upon support from industry organisations and business. If the courses are not of a high quality then industry support will deservedly wither and die. Students then lose the opportunity to participate in electives to develop skills that may enhance their employability. Academics must ensure that course contents are well presented, contain state of the art information and are constantly reviewed for relevance.