Timber Engineering Education in Australia

Education is arguably one of the most important factors in increasing the proliferation of timber engineering worldwide, yet in many countries timber subjects are being dropped from building related course curriculum. In Australia, the timber industry recognising the potential disastrous consequences of this trend, has recently implemented a number of pro-active initiatives to address this problem. In this paper the Australian scenario is presented. Description is made of the current state of timber education, the past involvement of industry associations, the new dedicated, pro-active industry based education programs and the future directions of timber engineering education in Australia. Keywords: Timber, engineering, education, Internet