Two universities two different approaches to engage students with industry.

Macquarie U and semiconductor company Analog Devices have established an engineering alliance,  inviting “industry into the university” (first announced in May, and again yesterday.)

“Traditionally, undergraduate engineering education has been structured around classroom theory, laboratory exercises, and a relatively disconnected industry-placement or internship system, M U engineering dean Michael Heimlich says.

Analog’s aspiration is for the alliance to create “the next generation of microwave and millimetre-wave integrated circuit designers,” areas where Macquarie U has long-established expertise.

CMM is sure Professor Heimlich did not mean Macquarie U’s professional and community engagement programme when he mentioned “disconnected industry placement.”

University of Canberra has gone in the opposite direction, with a new programme to place “aspiring IT professionals in the workforce for the duration of their studies.”

UC is partnering with training provider Column 72 to provide students, “with a unique mainframe trainee programme for work on IBMZs, “the world’s most advanced hardware and transaction processing platform.” Students will combine study with full-time work at an IBM mainframe customer.

Given the obvious employers with mainframes in Canberra are government this probably took bureaucratic expertise and plenty of patience to organise. It’s a brilliant incentive for students to study IT at UniCanberra.