Faculty of Engineering

At the beginning of March 1883, the first classes in engineering were held in the Main Building. Engineering then formed part of the newly created Faculty of Science (1882). The classes were attended at the opening by three matriculated students who were candidates for the engineering certificate, and by seven non-matriculated students. The lecturer in engineering was Mr WH Warren, who had been appointed in December 1882 following a decision by the University Senate to carry out significant revisions to the teaching of the University. These revisions, which provided for the establishment of Schools of Medicine, Science and Engineering, were unable to be implemented in 1881 for lack of staff, accommodation, and facilities.

In 1883, when the new engineering curriculum was introduced, the Senate reported that 'great inconvenience [had] been felt during the year, both by the lecturers and the students, through the deficiency in accommodation for lecturing purpose ... the room occupied by the Lecturer in Engineering [was] much too small to contain the apparatus required for the illustration of his lectures...' A temporary structure was erected at the rear of the main building, and in 1885 classes moved to a fairly commodious low white building with a verandah facing Parramatta Road, on a site now partly occupied by the Holme Building.

In 1909 the new building for the P.N. Russell School of Engineering was sufficiently completed early in the year for the work of the school to be conducted within its walls. This building, an outcome of the P.N. Russell benefactions described below, was formally opened by the Governor on 20 September 1909. During the course of the next few decades extensions were made to the PNR Building until, with the expansion in student numbers in the 1950's and early 1960's, new facilities were constructed in the Darlington extension area across City Road. Since the mid-seventies all departments have been accommodated in this area.

It was the Senate's intention in establishing engineering education at the University in 1882 to award Certificates in Engineering, in Civil Engineering and Architecture, Mechanical, and Mining Engineering. In 1883, however, the Senate adopted revised by-laws to establish two degrees in engineering, those of Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering. In so doing the Senate specified three branches of engineering: Civil Engineering and Architecture; Mechanical Engineering and Mining Engineering. In 1891 the branch of Electrical Engineering was added. In 1900 the Department of Engineering had the three branches of Civil Engineering, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and Mining and Metallurgy.

At the Professorial Board meeting on 1 November 1911, a motion to establish a faculty of Engineering had failed; at the meeting of 20 November 1911, the Professor of Engineering WH Warren seconded Professor Stuart’s motion “That the Board consider the organisation of teaching bodies of the University whether they should not in some cases be constituted into faculties”. After discussion, the motion was withdrawn and the following resolution passed “That a Committee be appointed to consider the organisation of the teaching bodies of the University and to report to the Professorial Board."

On 16 December 1919, the Professorial Board decided to recommend to Senate the report of its committee appointed to consider the constitution of existing faculties. The report, which recommended the establishment of 6 new faculties including Engineering, was adopted by Senate in February 1920. By-Laws constituting the Faculty were published in the University Calendar 1920 as Chapter XIV; the general functions of faculties are given in Chapter IX. The first Dean of Engineering was WH Warren. With the establishment of the new Faculty, Engineering was separated off from the Faculty of Science after nearly 40 years of association. The two faculties remain closely allied in teaching and outlook. (The other faculties created at that time were Agriculture, Architecture, Dentistry, Economics and Veterinary Science.)

In the Faculty of Engineering Degrees were given in the several branches (also called departments) of Engineering, viz., Civil Engineering, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and Mining and Metallurgy. The curriculum covered at least four years. [e.g. 1920 Calendar, p. viii, and see exam results for use of term Department] Administrative arrangements in Engineering remained unchanged until 1926 when Engineering Technology was added as a fourth branch. With the decision of the Senate to introduce teaching in Aeronautical Engineering in 1939, Aeronautical Engineering became the fifth branch. 

In 1948, on the appointment of Professor T.G. Hunter as the first Professor of Chemical Engineering in Australia, the Department of Engineering Technology was replaced by the Department of Chemical Engineering.

In 1957 separate curricula in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Information Engineering were developed and implemented.

In 1982 the departments of Civil Engineering and of Materials and Mining Engineering were amalgamated to form the School of Civil and Mining Engineering. This amalgamation recognised the close association that has developed in Australia between civil engineering and the mineral extractive industries; moreover, by providing for wider contacts with the various branches of the industry, it was intended to strengthen the teaching and research activities in the two areas.

The Faculty continued to award separate bachelor degrees in the five areas of engineering: Aeronautical, Civil, Mechanical, Chemical, and Electrical.

On 4 December 2006 Senate renamed the Faculty of Engineering as the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technologies. [Resolution 374/06].

As part of the University's strategic planning 2016-2020, Senate decided in December 2015 to reduce the number of faculties from 16 to six, with three additional schools reporting directly to the Provost, to come into effect 1 January 2017. The Faculty of Engineering and IT was retained.

The Faculty was renamed the Faculty of Engineering in May 2019 to bring the Faculty into line with international nomenclature. (staff news 30 May 2019) New committee structure requirements for faculty and University schools came into effect from 1 January 2021.

Related records: records from Dean's office, Faculty of Engineering G58.