Budding engineers coming to Brisbane

It's back to school with a difference for a group of 125 young Australians who are spending this week (January 18 to 24) at the University of Queensland.

The year 12 secondary students have come from all over the country to take part in the eighth annual National Engineering Summer School.

The school, run by the Institution of Engineers Australia and sponsored by BHP, is being held for the first time in Brisbane and combines a full program of field trips with plenty of hands-on activities.

During the week the students stay at Emmanuel College, on the St Lucia campus, and tour the University's engineering facilities and the engineering department at QUT.

Other outings will include BHP sites, an Ansett maintenance hangar at the airport, the BP refinery, the port of Brisbane, News Limited's printery and a behind-the-scenes look at how things work at Sea World.

A quiz night will test their engineering and general knowledge while one of the week's highlights will be the 'design and construct' competition on Tuesday night.

The group will be split into 10 teams, each armed with a box of pasta, some Lego, string, rubber bands, Bluetak, a battery, electric motor and a plastic cup full of water.

Ingenuity and inventiveness will be tested as the teenagers try to build a device which transports the water over a bridge made from the pasta.

For further information, contact Michael Lucas (telephone 3871 9212).