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State high school students will learn engineering in Years 8-12 and be encouraged to consider engineering as a future career under a new teaching program being developed by The University of Western Australia and Governor Stirling Senior High School.

Students at the Midland high school will be being exposed to the world of engineering and learn how to find practical solutions to simple engineering tasks with the aim of demonstrating how they can make a mark on the world through further study.

UWA's Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, and organisations such as engineering firms Beacon and Sinclair Knight Merz, are working with the high school to develop a ground-breaking curriculum and delivery style for a new fully integrated Year 8-12 Engineering Program.

The Dean of the Faculty, Winthrop Professor John Dell, said Governor Stirling Senior High School was part of the WA Education Department's gifted and talented program.  The new partnership with UWA would now also offer a specialist high school Engineering program with two streams of student intake: academic and vocational.

"The school is becoming a specialist centre in Western Australia for engineering education," Professor Dell said.  "Being a part of this is important because UWA is striving to want to promote engineering as a career pathway.

"We want to show that engineering is more than calculating an exact answer.  It's about sustainability, social impact and environmental responsibility and about finding solutions to the very big problems facing the world - such as climate change, poverty, and the supply of clean water and health services.

"We're helping to provide a new model for excellence in education and boosting engineering expertise in the State."

Established in 1959, GSSHS has a large number of educationally high-achieving students.  The school is undergoing a $63 million building redevelopment program with new facilities due to open next year in time for the first intake of Year 8-12 engineering program students.

Media references

Shannon Hooper (Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Marketing Assistant)  (+61 8)  6488 3992
Michael Sinclair-Jones (UWA Public Affairs)  (+61 8)  6488 3229  /  (+61 4) 00 700 783