It seems like everything sleeps in winter, but it’s really a time of renewal and reflection.
Elizabeth Camden
The cold weather may have settled in, but here at UTS we’ve been keeping ourselves cosy with our regular Professional Education and Practice Network (PEPN) meetups. In June and July, PEPN hosted colleagues from Health and FEIT to explore external collaboration opportunities for students. These webinars were attended by interested academic and professional staff over the semester break – if you couldn’t join us, gather round the fire and hear about what you missed!
Keeping WIL connections warm in high-performance sport
In our June Meetup, Kellie Ellis and Greta Conlan, Associate Lecturers in the School of Sport, Exercise, and Rehabilitation in the Faculty of Health, shared their industry engagement opportunities for students at the UTS Moore Park campus.
The School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation offers educational partnerships both internally and externally, with practicums, internships and professional projects in undergraduate courses and professional placements in postgraduate. The WIL network extends out to gyms, sporting facilities, schools, and sport clinics (from grassroots to high-performance). Internally the School collaborates with UTS Careers, Shopfront and the partnerships unit.
Students are highly involved in their placement process, with 21% self-sourcing their placements, many with existing clients. Kellie and Greta reinforced that maintaining strong relationships with partners, good communication, and opportunities for students to engage with staff frequently ensure ‘best fit’ placements.
One successful initiative for students in the final year of the undergraduate program is a telepractice clinic, first piloted during the COVID pandemic. Students work in pairs with supervisors to coach an external client on Zoom, who is given a series of strength and cardio exercises tailored to their needs. Students watch and provide encouragement and feedback, and the client has a routine to follow in the time between sessions. The School of Sport and Exercise Science aspires to increase their outreach into not for profit organisations and to increase the scope of their social impact.
Beating the chill: warmer welcomes to engineering internships
In our July Meetup, Osman Mah and Christopher Wilson shared an initiative providing internship opportunities to underrepresented groups from FEIT. As program leads of Optik Consultancy, they presented their work accompanied by two interns, who also shared their experiences.
With over 100,000 students in Australia seeking engineering internships in any given year, Osman noted that many are left disillusioned when it comes to seeking work-related experience. At UTS this winter, 70 interns will oversee 13 projects at the campus and various client sites, where industry partners include hospitals, councils and the private sector. Interns are mentored, supervised and coached by clients, industry representatives and the Optik team, with over 420 hours of internship per student. Notably, the cohort comprises 50% international students and 27% female participants.
Optik participants develop a range of professional skills during their 12-week placements, with opportunities to step up, use their initiative and deliver results for authentic client projects, supported by academic and industry mentorship. As one of our experience interns, Suraj Kattera suggested a positive attitude was invaluable when dealing with any obstacles or challenges thrown up by the experience. The 33% employment rate at the end of 2023 is further testament to the impact of such an experience.
Future events
In the July session attendees contributed to ways that Optik could increase their impact through partnering with other groups in UTS beyond FEIT and the MBA. Chris and Osman will present their work at this year’s ACEN conference in Sydney on 21-22 October.
The Professional Education Practice Network encourages and welcomes new members and contributions to our forums and webinars. Our next event is the 2024 UTS WIL Symposium, hosted at the UTS Moore Park precinct on Friday 2 August. Register now to secure your spot!