Benefits

Benefits to Industry

API will deliver significant and immediate benefits to the Industry, participating universities, and the nation as a whole.

Industry benefits will be achieved through a higher level of engineering expertise, at a lower internal cost to business, together with an enhanced pool of local academic expertise.

The enhanced background of graduates will reduce costs to industry by obviating the need for in-house training that is costly, and often ad hoc.

Increased numbers of graduates and retrained professionals with a relevant training and background will be available to fill industry vacancies.

Provision of a comprehensive graduate program and continuing education system will enable further training and specialisation in the power engineering disciplines.

API would provide a coherent facility for high-level consultancy in electric power engineering specialties, or secondment of contract staff; and an enhanced capability for directed research into current industry technical issues, in conjunction with research into long-term issues.

Benefits to Universities

Universities working collaboratively based on recognized centers of excellence are able to grow their student subject numbers on a national basis as well as demonstrating efficiency and sustainability of operation.

The participating Universities would receive funding to establish specialist groups that have compatible academic and research interests that will serve the identified needs of Australian industry providing a mutually supportive mechanism.

Viable power schools would be further strengthened. Appointment of new talented academics to vacant or new positions and the mentoring and development of their successors would be encouraged and enabled.

Universities would be able to leverage off their enhanced capabilities and reputation to attract more full fee-paying international students.

Benefits to the nation

In the national context, API will deliver:

• Retention of local expertise to avert and manage power system shutdowns
• A strengthened economy through a strong power engineering skill base to support industry and community needs.
• Effective tertiary university sector in power engineering through a collaborative approach between universities, business (API) and industry (energy utilities, manufacturers consultants).

Benefits to Members

The benefits to individual organisations relate to securing a sustainable source of engineering skills in an industry that has a technically complex asset base supported by specialised engineering capability.

The API will ensure:

• Attraction of high quality students to power engineering specialties;
• University power engineering schools attain excellence towards world's best standards;
• There is an adequate pool of high quality graduates;
• Graduate employees have access to rigorous but flexible avenues to acquire specialist skills appropriate to their industry sector;
• There is a process for updating these skills throughout an engineering career; and
• The university academic staff provides a resource for industry in investigating significant and complex technical issues.

The achievement of these general goals will benefit individual organisations by:

• The availability of high quality engineers;
• An ability to update their skills and employees' skills with minimum disruption to work; and
• An enhanced capability to introduce and support new technology.

Membership of the API ensures these advantages are available to each participating organisation.

Specific benefits of membership are:

• Concession fees for short courses run by API.
• A quarterly newsletter setting out trends and other information regarding power engineering education.
• An annual summary of available statistics regarding courses, student numbers and academic numbers and activity.
• Access to API bursary students for vacation employment.
• Company branding on API bursary program.
• Direct involvement in setting objectives and reviewing performance by having the ability to appoint directors to the Board of API.
• Opportunities for direct access for visiting experts involved in short courses.
• Assistance in arranging participation for selected students in vacation training and
• Assistance in arranging rotational training for staff.