Producing enterprising engineers through integrated technology and business experiential learning

More than ever before, engineers need business and personal skills as well as traditional technical skills, to prosper in their endeavours after graduation. Traditional courses are changing in delivery method and content to meet this need. At the RMIT, a new course format is aimed at producing enterprising engineers who understand the intricate interplay of business and commercial factors with the technical design process, and who are keen and able to lead in commercial ventures centred on technical design. To this end, the major subject stream-Engineering Design and Innovation-of the four year courses in Electronic and Communication Engineering and Computer Systems Engineering, features integrated delivery of a range of topics including technical, business, personal and management skills, in the one lecture stream. The paper describes the course development work already undertaken and the plans for completing this initiative.