This paper reports on the development of Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BEngTech) at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, New South Wales (NSW). The degree has co-jointly dealt with the engineering challenge of sustaining regional areas by addressing an identified professional skills shortage in regional Australia, whilst embedding sustainability principles in the curricula. This challenge has been successfully achieved in two ways. Firstly, the BEngTech was developed to address in part the skills shortage of engineers in regional areas of New South Wales in the early 2000s. Since the commencement of the degree in 2008, there are now over 100 students are currently enrolled across the two majors of Civil and Environmental engineering. One of the distinguishing features of the degree is the number of students sponsored by industry partners. The current cohort comprises at least 10 state government agency cadets studying full-time and at least 30 trainees with regional employers (local government, consultancies, etc.) studying in off-campus (external) mode. Of the total cohort about 43% are studying off-campus. It is a goal and a hope that a large proportion of the graduates will be retained in regional Australia. Secondly, UNE has a strong record for over 40 years of embedding sustainability principles in teaching, and was one of the pioneers in Australia teaching Natural Resources, Resource Engineering, Environmental Engineering and presently Civil and Environmental Engineering. With this background, sustainability is strongly embedded as an underlying imperative in both majors of the BEngTech at UNE.

In 2011, the Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) funded a national project entitled "Get set for success: Using online self-assessments to motivate first year engineering students to engage in and manage their learning". This research project aims to identify factors that lead to success in first year engineering studies. The project will deliver a prototype model of the Engineering Career Appraisal Tool (EngCAT), an online educational resource that enables individuals to self-assess their cognitive (e.g., spatial, mathematical, and technical skills) and non-cognitive (e.g., personality traits, career interests and approaches to learning) abilities. Initial data have been collected and some initial results are available for the EngCAT project. Commencing engineering students across five Australian universities completed cognitive and non-cognitive tests to help them self-assess their readiness for the programs and to empower them with self-awareness and learning skills.

This paper reports on the development of Bachelor of Engineering Technology (BEngTech) at the University of New England (UNE). The degree has been dealing with the engineering challenge of sustaining regional areas through both filling the skills shortage and embedding sustainability principles in the curricula. This challenge has been successfully achieved in two ways. Firstly, the BEngTech was developed to fill part of the skills shortage of engineers in regional areas. Since the commencement of the degree in 2008, over 80 students are currently enrolled across the two majors of Civil and Environmental engineering. One of the distinguishing features of the degree is the number of students sponsored by industry partners. The current cohort comprises six Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) cadets studying full time, at least 10 trainees are working with regional councils, and 15 are studying as part of their work requirements in various regional professional organisations. It is a goal and a hope that these students will stay in the region at the completion of their degree. Secondly, UNE has had a very strong focus for the past 40 years of embedding sustainability principles in teaching, and was one of the pioneers in Australia teaching Natural Resources, Resource Engineering, Environmental Engineering and presently Civil and Environmental Engineering. From this basis, sustainability is strongly embedded in both majors of the BEngTech.

There is increasing pressure worldwide for firms to become more efficient in their use of resources and to reduce waste emissions to landfill, air and water. Consequently, individual firms and groups of firms are seeking to develop innovative and commercially attractive alternatives to waste disposal. Wastes are increasingly being regarded as 'by-products' rather than wastes and one firm's waste is increasingly being regarded as another's input. There is potential now to develop 'industrial ecosystems' where waste is re-used and the waste loop is closed. Closing the loop does, however, require a significant amount of multidisciplinary research in order to understand the nature of the waste streams available and the various options for transforming these, economically, into re-usable inputs. This report summarises the results of one such study. Because many rural towns tend to have similar waste streams, this study lays the groundwork for the development of industrial ecosystems in regional Australia. Regional centres such as Tamworth (NSW), where this study was undertaken, have agro-industrial estates that produce significant levels of organic by-product. The Glen Artney Industrial Estate (GAIE) in Tamworth is home to two abattoirs, a meat products manufacturer, livestock saleyard, hydroponic vegetable producer, industrial laundry and a range of other smaller service industries. There is also potential to double the number of firms operating within its boundary. A survey and analysis of the GAIE reveals that the major wastes presently produced include heat, carbon dioxide, various wastewaters, plant and animal waste products (including paunch). As part of the endeavor to understand how loops might be closed, this report provides a technical discussion of the major processes for transforming organic waste to energy. Included in this discussion are: direct combustion, gasification; pyrolysis; anaerobic digestion and alcoholic fermentation. The advantages and disadvantages of each process for the disposal of organic waste are also discussed. The nature, amount and type of waste produced suggest that the process of anaerobic digestion might have the most potential. This conclusion is supported by the imminent development of a commercial anaerobic digester at a similar agro-industrial estate in Wagga Wagga (NSW). There are, however, other issues that need to be addressed before general recommendations and development of this process can be recommended. These include OH&S issues, institutional (including legal and bureaucratic) constraints, possible problems in obtaining a constant, reliable quality and quantity of required organic inputs on which new systems will depend, and the development of efficient transport systems. More research is required in these areas.

Background: Results presented in this paper are part of a national project aimed to develop strategies to enhance enrolment, progression, and graduation rates in engineering programs. The implementation of these strategies is hoped to help the critical shortages of engineers in Australia. It is well documented that transition to university study can be difficult for students and with increasingly diverse cohorts it is vital that learning and teaching be aimed at a wide audience. In smaller institutions it is commonplace for engineering students to study the same subjects as students enrolled in other courses. It is important to document the similarities and/or differences in learning approaches and motivations of these different cohorts to determine whether accommodations via adaptive teaching strategies are needed. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the interests and motivations to study engineering of first year Bachelor of Engineering Technology (Civil and Environmental) students with those of applied science students. Design: The project team developed an online battery of self-assessment tests to measure non-cognitive abilities and motivations and interests in studying engineering. A total of 76 first year students at a regional university completed the self-tests. Comparisons between engineering and applied science student profiles allowed the similarities and differences in their respective approaches to learning and career interests to be documented. Results: Analysis of the data showed that engineering students were significantly less likely to be surface learners than their applied science peers (p < .05). Engineering students also showed significantly higher scores than applied science students on the total measure of interest and motivation for studying engineering (p < .01). Conclusions: The self-assessments enabled the first year engineering and applied science students to identify their motivations for studying engineering. They also received feedback on their learning approaches. A follow-up class discussion enabled the students to reflect on the benefits and potential limitations of each learning approach. The importance of conversing with students about how to self-manage their learning and being linked to support to address any identified gaps was discussed in the context of experiencing success in first year studies.