Lifting the Veil: A Program to Increase the Number of School Leavers Entering and Completing a Surveying Degree. (13446) |
| Glenn Campbell, Samantha Taylor and Chris McAlister (Australia) |
Assoc Prof Glenn Campbell
Assocate Professor
Unisversity Of Southern Queensland
Germany
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| Corresponding author Assoc Prof Glenn Campbell (email: laura.balange[at]iigs.uni-stuttgart.de) |
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| [ abstract ] [ paper ] [ handouts ] |
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Published on the web 2025-03-16
Received 2024-12-02 / Accepted n/a |
| This paper is one of selection of papers published for the FIG Working Week 2025 in Brisbane, Australia in Brisbane, Australia and has undergone the FIG Peer Review Process. |
FIG Working Week 2025 in Brisbane, Australia
ISBN n/a ISSN 2307-4086
URL n/a
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Abstract |
| Like many jurisdictions, Australia has been suffering a chronic shortage of surveying graduates. To address the shortfall, the hunt is on to find the next generation of surveyors. Hindering the search is the limited public profile surveying has among school students and their parents. We are focused on identifying students who are capable of pursuing a career in surveying and may not have considered a tertiary study pathway. First in family students, that is those students without a degree holding parents or guardians, are 60% less likely to aspire to tertiary study than their peers with a parental role model. This aspiration gap has been shown to be consistent at all stages of primary and secondary education. Even when choosing to pursue tertiary study, first in family students are at a greater risk of attrition or slow progression through the program. The surveying profession in Australia has particular characteristics that give it an advantage in attracting these talented, but overlooked, young people who could be the key to alleviating the skills shortage.
This paper describes how collaborative work between Government, private sector firms, and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) is increasing the number of surveying undergraduates, as well as engaging in strategies to increase the participation of first-in-family students. The program provides multiple touch points for prospective students, from the first awareness raising stage to a deepening engagement with UniSQ and the surveying profession. For first-in-family students, we have found that exposure to existing students, practising surveyors, UniSQ teaching staff and the campus itself all help to demystify tertiary education as a career pathway. Once enrolled, students complete an introductory course that focusses not only on technical academic skills but fosters students’ sense of belonging and their emerging professional identity. Early results show that this approach is firming up the surveying graduate supply pipeline.
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| Keywords: Education; Capacity building |
