Master of Engineering (Industrial Automation) Engineering Institute of Technology

Course at a Glance

• Code: MIA
• Course Length: 2 Years (part-time)
• Course taught in English

Programme Details

There is a global shortage of automation, instrumentation, and control engineers due to the rapid growth of new industries and technologies.

Our Master of Engineering (Industrial Automation) perfectly addresses this gap in the industrial automation industry. The programme’s twelve core units and project thesis provide you with the practical knowledge and skills required. Students with a background in electrical, mechanical, instrumentation and control, or industrial computer systems engineering can benefit from this programme.

The content has been carefully designed to provide you with relevant concepts and the tools required in today’s fast-moving work environment. For example, the unit on power engineering covers major equipment and technologies used in power systems, including power generation, transmission, and distribution networks.

Our Programmemable Logic Controllers unit covers in-depth principles of operation of PLCs, networking, distributed controllers, and programme control strategies. The unit on industrial process control systems combines the process identification and feedback control design with a broad understanding of the hardware, system architectures, and software techniques widely used to evaluate and implement complex control solutions.

Our industrial instrumentation unit identifies key features of widely used measurement techniques and transducers combined with microprocessor devices to create robust and reliable industrial instruments. Undertaking process engineering will enable you to evaluate and apply complex process calculations through the application of control principles.

The industrial data communications units provide the requisite knowledge to manage modern field buses and industrial wireless systems. Safety Systems provides an introduction to the standard safety philosophy of hazard identification, risk management, and risk-based design of protection methods and functional safety systems. The SCADA and distributed control systems unit cover hardware and software systems, evaluation of typical DCS and SCADA systems, and configuration of DCS controllers. Special topics enable you to incorporate current technologies and the knowledge acquired from the entire programme to solve complex industrial automation problems.

The Project Thesis, the capstone of the programme, requires a high level of personal autonomy and accountability, as it reinforces the knowledge and skill base developed in the previous units. As a significant research component of the programme, this project will facilitate research, critical evaluation, and the application of knowledge and skills with creativity and initiative, enabling you to critique current professional practice in the industrial automation industry.

Accreditation

Like all Australian higher education providers and universities, EIT programmes are accredited by the exacting standards of the Australian Government’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). This master’s degree is accredited by Engineers Australia under the Washington Accord. It is internationally recognized under the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) accords and the various signatories.

Upon completion of this programme, you will gain skills and expertise in the latest developing technologies in instrumentation, process control, and industrial automation.

Potential Job Outcomes

Potential job roles include engineering and management positions in the following areas of expertise:

• Process control, commissioning and production management
• Plant, factory and building automation
• Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Distributed Control Systems (DCSs) and SCADA
• Industrial design and consultation
• Supply chain management, quality assurance, and sales
• Operations, maintenance, field services, and technical support
• Controls, instrumentation, and robotics
• Industrial project management and business development

Programme Structure

You must complete 48 credit points comprising twelve core units and one capstone thesis. There are no electives in this programme. The programme duration is two years, and we deliver units over four terms per year, so you will take two units per term. There will be a short break between years.

*Applicable to students gaining entry under option 1) or 4) of the Entry Requirements.

Year One

Year Two

Additional Mandatory Units

Graduate Diploma of Engineering (Industrial Automation)

Students who elect to exit the programme after successfully completing all of the first-year units, as outlined above, can opt to receive EIT’s Graduate Diploma of Engineering (Industrial Automation). If you wish to finalize the Master qualification after exiting at the Graduate Diploma level, you will need to re-enrol in the programme and relinquish the Graduate Diploma testamur.

Rules of Progression

You can only attempt the Project Thesis once you have successfully completed all other units. All engineering disciplines are built up of individual bodies of knowledge that together target a specific application. It not only relies on the combined body of knowledge from the undergraduate degree, specifically mathematics, physics, and discipline knowledge but also on the various units that form this programme.

The ‘500’ level units are designed at the Australian Qualifications Framework level eight (Graduate Diploma). The knowledge from each unit allows you to be able to investigate challenging problems, analyse and synthesize complex solutions, and communicate your solutions and ideas.

This will enable successful progress to the ‘600’ level units at the Australian Qualifications Framework level nine (master’s degree). All this knowledge is brought together as you tackle complex application problems in your final thesis.

The content of each unit is designed to provide a graduated increase in knowledge and skills from the ‘500’ level units to the ‘600’ level units culminating in a Project Thesis. All units must be passed, or have exemptions, to achieve the qualification.

The Graduate Diploma of Engineering is nestled within the master’s degree as an exit point only after the successful completion of all the ‘500’ level units of the programme. Both qualifications have the same entry requirements. The second year of the master’s degree does not serve as an entry point.

Work-Integrated Learning

EIT’s Master of Engineering programmes require students to undertake 240 hours of paid or unpaid professional work-integrated learning. This can incorporate paid or unpaid internships, site visits, contributing to industry projects, and networking activities.

In undertaking an internship, students will interact with employees and become exposed to organizational policy and culture. You will familiarize yourself with organizational communication procedures, a variety of engineering disciplines, and obtain insight and practical aptitude in projects from the planning phase to completion.

If you already have some work experience in the relevant engineering field, you may apply to have credit granted by completing the associated recognition of prior learning form.

Time Commitment & Duration

Our master’s degrees take two years to complete. We deliver our online master’s degrees on a part-time intensive basis. Part-time students are expected to spend approximately 20 hours per week learning the programme material and completing assessments. This includes attending tutorials.