It is official. Australia needs engineers now and for the future.
"We have too few students studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects at higher levels at high school, too few going onto engineering at university, and a shortage of engineering skills across the economy as a consequence.
We can’t just look to immigration to fill this gap; engineers are in demand across the world. Recent national efforts to promote STEM education are good news and are gaining ground, but we need to proactively continue to support capacity building." (From "Building the nation will be impossible without engineers" article on The Conversation)
That is why at Robotics Club, our mission is to expose as many young Australians as possible to the value of a STEM education, providing them with tools to enhance their creativity and problem solving skills. It is worrying to read that "The OECD currently lists Australia last place out of 33 nations for collaboration on innovation between businesses and the higher education sector and public research agencies."
Surely we can do better than that. Thanks to our program sponsors, Northrop Grumman Foundation and Autodesk, more high schools are receiving their grants to start a robotics team to compete in the Vex Robotics Australian National Championships.
It is our hope and mission to highlight the importance of STEM in our schools and to attract our younger Australians into exploring careers in engineering and sciences. With our Vex Program, we want to inspire youth into creativity and innovation, skills that they can use to benefit Australia.
"Australian industries need the flexibility, insight and foresight that comes from thinking creatively, asking critical questions, forming and testing hypotheses and reasoning quantitatively – and engineers have the technical knowledge and the problem solving skills to respond to constant change."
Together with our supportive coaches of our high school teams and our program sponsors, we aim to make Australia known to the world as an innovative place to be. It will take time, the seeds are being planted but we will get there.
