The transformative power of university

Associate Professor Paige Little, QUT School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering

Going to university sets you on a path of learning and discovery. It’s a great place to find who we want to be and how we want to make our mark on the world, be it big or small.

Some lucky people know straight up what they want to achieve in life and what they want to study. Then there are those of us who think we know … but are really just kids in a candy store trying to choose a single degree when everything looks amazing.

After I finished school, I started a degree in accounting and originally had plans to move into petro-chemistry management. I was offered a scholarship to attend my local regional university in Toowoomba and thought I’d do the business part first and follow it up with postgraduate study in applied chemistry. But once I started the accounting degree I realised how unsuited I was to the topic – I was bored! I hadn’t realised how much of a passion I had for maths and science, so at the end of my first year of accounting I moved over to an engineering degree.

I loved studying engineering. I loved using maths and physics in such a practical way, and I loved designing things for real-world applications. After two summer holiday internships at local industry manufacturers, I was confident my career lay in metal smelting and large equipment design and manufacture.

That was my plan … until I was offered a final-year engineering project to study the cause of fracture in single rooted human molar teeth. The project used what I had learned in stress analysis, finite element modelling, and materials engineering, but applied it to human teeth.

This was a lightbulb moment for me and suddenly opened up the possibility that I could use my engineering skills for something that could have real impact on people – biomechanics and medical devices.

Going to university opened the world up to me and I enjoy now seeing students embarking on their own career journeys. In addition to being a research director at QUT, I also lead an engagement programme for school students from backgrounds of social disadvantage and cultural diversity.

It’s important that all students finishing school realise there are paths available to them at uni, if they want to take them. That’s not to say that university is for everyone or that it’s the only pathway to success or career fulfillment. But we should never allow a young person to feel as though a university degree is out of their reach as a result of their socio-economic status or cultural heritage.

When high school students come from a background where family members haven’t attended university or they don’t have role models in their life who have university degrees, it’s easy for them to feel as though university is not for them. But this isn’t true.

I want all students to feel like it’s your right to be here. And if you have a passion, you follow it. There are a lot of really wonderful bridging pathways that students can utilise to gain entry into their chosen degree if their ATAR isn’t quite at the level required for a particular degree. There are always options open to them if they have the passion and motivation to get a university education.