Swinburne-Siemens partnership is building the workforce of the future

Siemens’ suite of product lifecycle management tools and the MindSphere Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) operating system are enabling Swinburne students, academics and industry partners to collaborate and co-create local and global projects.

More than 400 students across higher and vocational education have used these tools, located in Swinburne’s Factory of the Future and accessed throughout the university.

Developing skills for the future

Since 2017, Swinburne and Siemens have been working together to build the skilled, digitally savvy workforce of the future through the Industry 4.0 higher apprenticeship, the Associate Degree of Applied Technologies.

Co-developed by Swinburne, Siemens and the Australian Industry Group, the program bridges the current gap between technical training and university education, integrating trade skills into higher-level qualifications in Industry 4.0 technologies, such as cyber physical systems, Internet of Things, cloud computing, and augmented reality.

It also offers students first-hand work experience at Siemens and other industry partners to ensure development of practical workplace skills.

“The future of work will require a different type of skills base that will be highly digitally literate, with a range of pathways that are very broad,” says Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Pathways and Vocational Education) Lisa Line.

“The Associate Degree program focuses on the practical competencies required by the advanced manufacturing sector in Industry 4.0. It is the only sub-Bachelor degree in Industry 4.0 anywhere in the world.”

The program is designed to develop the skills for the future workforce required for Industry 4.0 and the connectivity and interaction between cyber and physical systems in advanced manufacturing.

The first cohort of graduates of this course were selected through an intensive assessment process to ensure they had the skills required to work collaboratively.