"Simulated Consulting": A Win-Win Experience in Transport Engineering Education

Abstract

Students undertaking a final year elective subject in Transportation Planning at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, were given the opportunity to work on a practical project for which there was an interested outside ‘client’. From the student’s perspective, this was essentially a ‘simulated’ consulting project which focussed on transport planning issues faced by the City of Port Phillip, an inner metropolitan municipality in Melbourne. The overall experience, from everybody’s perspective, proved to be so positive that the model for the project will be used in the course in future years. This paper has been written to inform other engineering educators of how the project was implemented and to highlight some of the educational issues which this type of experience raised. Of particular interest to educators are issues associated with the functioning of some of the student groups in the project and the opportunities provided by projects of this nature to establish strong industry links.