There is a persistent misalignment between the demand for engineers in Australia and the capacity of
educational institutions to supply new graduates to meet this demand.Although the combination of
additional places in engineering and the more recent shift to demand -driven places in universities has
increased commencements in entry level engineering courses, these changes will take some years to
see an increase in completions. Even when this occurs, taking into account historical retention and
attrition rates, the increase in completions is likely to be insufficient to make a substantive difference to
the demand-supply gap.Growing Australia’s domestic supply of engineers is a challenge for the very long
term and while strong demand conditions persist, continued reliance on immigration will remain essential.