Shaping Industry to Student Relations Through IPENZ

18 Jun 2010 - 11:49:53 in Achievement
Brendan Vercoelen is a fourth year Bachelors of Engineering (BE) student studying Electronic and Computer Systems Engineering (ECEN) at Victoria University of Wellington who is shaping industry to student relations through IPENZ. Since the end of 2007 Brendan has worked as the student representative on the Wellington branch committee of IPENZ. IPENZ (The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand) is the body which represents more than 9000 professional engineers, from a range of disciplines. The Wellington Branch has over 1400 Members in Wellington and Wairarapa.

Brendan Vercoelen.JPG
This branch committee includes industrial leaders from such companies as GHD (an international network of professional and technical consultants employing over 6000 people), Opus Internet (International consultancy for infrastructure, architecture, construction, water, environment, asset development and management solutions.), Beca (an international employee-owned engineering and related consultancy services group), Transpower (owns and maintains the national electricity grid for New Zealand), Fulton-Hogan (a major trans-Tasman civil contracting company) and governmental departments. Brendan cites the excellent networking opportunities as one of the biggest benefits in his role with IPENZ.

senz.JPG
Since the beginning of 2010, Brendan has become the Victoria University of Wellington representative for SENZ (Student Engineers of New Zealand). This is a new initiative by IPENZ to formalise student engagement throughout New Zealand. Together with students from other national universities, such as Auckland and Canterbury, Brendan is helping to facilitate industry to student interactions. This includes being awarded a grant to organise and host the inaugural SENZ event in Wellington.

Recently, Brendan was invited to be a member of the Young Professionals Task Force, which is a year-long project that seeks to smooth the transition between University and professional practice through IPENZ. This led to an invitation by the IPENZ governing board to feedback on its relationship with students. This prestigious task led to Brendan being included in a talk by the chief executive officer of Pertronic Industries Ltd (Advanced Automatic Fire Detection Systems) on how he took the start-up to international success.

The knowledge and experiences gained by Brendan will not only help his career progression, but are being fed back into the Engineering degrees to strengthen all students' interaction with IPENZ and industry.

Share