In a significant milestone for railway signal engineering education, the Rail CRC-developed Postgraduate Diploma of Railway Signalling, offered by Central Queensland University (CQU), has been accepted by the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) in the UK as an appropriate equivalent qualification when applying for corporate membership of the IRSE.

The IRSE is the professional body for railway signalling engineers, based in the UK, with members throughout the world including Europe, Asia and North America.

The IRSE recognition will mean that graduates of the CQU Railway Signalling program will be able to apply for membership without having to sit nominal IRSE public examination.

The postgraduate diploma has received strong support from the Australian rail industry, and the signal engineering profession. There has also been some international interest in the program since it was first offered in 2004, and Rail CRC and CQU have been exploring options to offer the course in Malaysia and the UK. This recognition of the program by IRSE (UK) is envisaged to refresh international interest.

According to Ken Burrage of the IRSE (UK), the Council for the IRSE is fully supportive of the aims and objectives of the CQU course and wishes to encourage all those concerned in its development and administration to continue with the good work that is being done to produce a qualification that is relevant to the training and development needs of professional signal engineers.

The Rail CRC/CQU postgraduate diploma has received strong support from the Australian rail industry since it commenced in 2004, with the program working to reverse the signal engineering profession’s skills shortage, which has come about due to an aging workforce, the disaggregation of the industry and increased investment in rail infrastructure.

The success of this program has been due to the collaboration arranged through the Rail CRC, of which CQU is a core participant, and the efforts of many IRSE members in Australia. CQU has also been licensed to offer the program due to its depth of experience in engineering distance education which was essential to cater for the different signalling practices in each State.

To continue to support skills development in the rail industry, Rail CRC and the CQU recently signed a license agreement extending the use of materials for the course in Australia for a further 2 years, and have committed to exploring options to offer the course internationally in future.

The Council has accepted that a pass in the Rail CRC/CQU Postgraduate Diploma is an appropriate equivalent qualification for a candidature to offer in their application for IRSE membership.