News

The Electrical and Electronic (Honours) Degree Apprenticeship and the Civil Engineering Degree Apprenticeship combine a degree with a paid apprenticeship.

This model provides valuable hands-on experience and industry connections, enabling a pipeline of highly skilled graduates to fast track their careers into the state’s defence industry workforce.

These new apprenticeship pathways, which have been approved and declared by the South Australian Skills Commission, join existing degree apprenticeships currently available for software engineering at Adelaide University and mechanical engineering at Flinders University, modelled on programs run in the UK and Germany.

The Electrical and Electronic (Honours) Degree Apprenticeship will commence from 2026, and the Civil Engineering Degree Apprenticeship will be delivered from 2027.

Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling said the programs are set to deliver valuable career pathways for South Australians and stronger capabilities for the state through a world-class education model. “Flinders University is breaking down barriers by revolutionising pathways to launch careers. Students can earn an engineering degree while receiving a regular pay cheque and real-world work experience,” said Professor Stirling.

“Building on the success of our mechanical engineering pathway, Flinders’ new engineering programs equip students with degree-level qualifications and practical skills, helping them get great jobs, while meeting industry needs head-on.”

The Degree Apprenticeship Program is one of the 22 initiatives included in the South Australian Defence Industry Workforce and Skills (SADIWS) Action Plan.

Released today, the annual update of the SADIWS Action Plan shows significant progress towards boosting the highly skilled defence workforce required to deliver complex defence projects in South Australia.

The impact of these efforts is evident in the case studies throughout the update, which provide a closer look at participants finding their place in the workforce, including those participating in the existing Degree Apprenticeship Programs.