ENGINEERING Unlike some other degrees we could name, engineering is not a relaxing interlude between high school and wage slavery. It is hard work, with all degrees featuring high contact hours, heavy assessment schedules, compulsory subjects and more mathematics than you can shake a triple integral at. The upside of this is that engineering cohorts are closely bonded
by the shared suffering, with a very active set of societies providing the requisite amber refreshments that a student may require after a hard day of being relentlessly pummelled by their degree. Engineers will also graduate with exceptionally good employment prospects, with graduate full time
employment rates varying from 75% in mechanical to a whopping 93% in civil, all at a very healthy rate of pay. So if you’re (un)fortunate enough to be entering this faculty, just remember that no matter how much those art students mock your lack of social skills and the gross gender imbalance in your degree, you have a future. And probably some cool t-shirts too.
CIVIL If there’s one thing civil engineering students hate, it is the chronic overcrowding of their degree. And architects. Alright, two things. 2nd and 3rd year tutorials consist largely of squeezing hundreds of people into the PNR Drawing Offices, allocating a smattering of tutors to wander around and hoping that everyone has an absolutely top-notch learning experience as a result. Happily though, lecturers are by and large enthusiastic and knowledgeable about their subjects, with Tim Wilkinson attracting bouquets for his clear explanations of concepts in Structural Mechanics and Steel
Structures 1, but also some brickbats for his harsh marking. Richard Weber got plaudits for his real-world practicality and Federico Maggi for being a chill dude. No civil courses were considered outright bad, but there are several ones worth watching out for. Topping the list is the third year Concrete Structures, with some ferociously difficult examinations (Go to your lectures. If you don’t, you will fail, as an enormous chunk of this year’s class found out too late.) Also to be wary of is the third year Engineering and Society, due to its randomly allocated groups.
Some students found Steel Structures – Stability to be overly mathematical and of limited use. Hydrology features a substantial amount of mathematical derivation, but if that doesn’t float your boat do it anyway for the open book examinations, excellent (and available online) lecture notes. Numerical Methods was described as the most interesting and enjoyable of the 4th year units. Respondents who completed their thesis in 2013 indicated that it was a lot of hard work, but very enjoyable if you were interested in the topic.
CHEMICAL Chemical engineers are a close-knit group and they seem to be very positive about almost all aspects of their degree. Class sizes are very reasonable, to be expected in a school of only 50-60 students per year. Students were very keen on PAGE 38
the content of the degree, finding it to offer a good range of material, from the heavily mathematical and theoretical courses, often featuring quite involved tasks and some programming, to broader and possibly gentler courses such as Industrial Systems and Sustainability
that examines environmental issue in engineering practice, one student telling us “It’s the closest thing you get to doing an arts degree and a breath of fresh air”. The tutors, were well regarded and were tipped as the best sources of information on what Counter course handbook 2 014