When Harrison finished high school, he had a big choice to make: how would he start his journey to a career in engineering?

Would he uproot, move to Melbourne and start university? Or would he stay close to his family and community in Bendigo?

After a couple of gap years, he knew where his heart belonged. And with La Trobe’s state-of-the-art engineering labs right in his home town – as well as plenty of local job opportunities – the choice was easy. He enrolled in La Trobe’s Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honours) at our Bendigo Campus and hasn’t looked back.

‘The engineering facilities here connect you with the real world. They’re up to date, they’re current. And that’s what you need from a good university,’ says Harrison.

With the support of his lecturers, he found paid employment in Bendigo doing geo-technical engineering – after only his first year of study.

Harrison praises La Trobe’s dedication to developing the human skills engineers need to succeed, like leadership, innovation, critical thinking and project management. He has no doubt they’ll give him an edge in the job market.

‘La Trobe teaches you human skills that really do set you apart from the average engineer in the workplace,’ says Harrison.

‘Any engineer can design and draft up plans, but not every engineer can connect with people and lead.’

Ready to explore a future in engineering? Find out more about our engineering courses.