Why Choose UNSW?

For over two decades The University of New South Wales has been a world leader in research and commercialisation of high performance silicon solar cells.  The UNSW School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering was established in order enable a greater number of students to specialise in Photovoltaics (the science and the engineering practice of turning sunshine directly into electricity by using solar cells).  With energy becoming an increasingly important world-wide issue, the breadth of our teaching in Photovoltaic Engineering was increased to include Renewable Energy Engineering.

Undergraduate degrees include the Bachelor of Engineering in Photovoltaic and Solar Energy Engineering; and, the Bachelor of Engineering in Renewable Energy Engineering.  It is also possible to study in a combined degree program.

On the postgraduate level, we currently have 60 PhD and Masters Degree candidates and many of these will go on to work world-wide in the explosively growing Photovotaics or Renewable Energy industries.  At last count, 35 of our higher degree graduates had CEO, CTO or other senior management positions in some of the world's largest photovoltaics companies.

It is an exciting time for engineers who choose to look at a world needing increasing amounts of energy and seeing the solution being in utilising the renewable resources available to everyone: sunshine, wind, rain, tides and biomass to name a few.

We invite you to consider studying with us.  We are a small school but world-wide there is a real need for the specialties that we teach.

AN EXCELLENT REPUTATION

The Faculty of Engineering at UNSW is Australia’s leading and largest engineering faculty. Below you’ll find a few reasons The Faculty of Engineering and UNSW consistently achieve high scores in international and national rankings.

  • The UK’s Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Rankings positioned Engineering at UNSW as number one in the country in 2007 and 2008, and number two in 2009. It ranked UNSW 47th in the world.
  • The Melbourne Institute of Advanced Studies ranked UNSW Faculty of Engineering 1st in Australia.
  • UNSW scored highly in the 2010 Good Universities Guide rankings, being awarded the maximum five-star rating for seven key performance indicators: including research grants, research intensivity, student-staff ratio, staff qualifications, cultural diversity, graduate starting salary and positive graduate outcomes.
  • The Faculty of Engineering at UNSW is recognised worldwide for its outstanding pure and applied research performance.

STATE-OF-THE-ART TEACHING

After 60 years of sustained excellence in teaching and learning, the Faculty of Engineering at UNSW continues to be a pioneer in engineering education.

  • Engineering and Computing at UNSW were awarded a top ranking for teaching excellence and teaching improvement by the Federal Government's Learning and Teaching Performance Fund in 2009.
  • UNSW Engineering keeps extensive and close links with key industrial, commercial and professional organisations.
  • All programs incorporate a strong emphasis on design and problem solving.
  • Students benefit from first-hand practical experience by participating in exciting and innovative student-led projects and industry-based training.

A GREAT LOCATION

The UNSW campus is ideally placed, close to Sydney’s CBD as well as its beautiful beaches. Excellent bus services with train links make the campus easily accessible for those living off-campus.