Our Subsidiary Companies
Engineers Media
A major achievement this year was the migration of our EA Books online bookshop to a new ecommerce platform and the installation of a secured digital rights management system to deliver ebook content. Traffic to the new web site is steadily increasing and members are finding it easier to search and purchase books online.
A highlight was the increased number of Engineers Australia’s Journals published. Eighteen print Journals and three online issues were published, against a budget of 14. ISI listing is now underway for the Australian Journal of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, which will significantly improve the appeal of this Journal to potential authors.
Engineers Australia magazine was relaunched in May in an A4 format with a new masthead and new design throughout. The new look has been well received by members and advertisers. The August 2008 issue contained our first photographic competition, which attracted some 300 entries. The winner was announced as part of Sydney Division’s Engineering Week activities. 601,600 copies of the magazine were mailed to members during the year. The charge to supply the magazine to members was $1.86 (2008 $1.89) per copy.
Our annual publication Infrastructure Australia, published in April, reported on a number of major projects and the greater focus given to infrastructure spending. Our quarterly publication Electrical News, despite the slowdown, continued to attract good advertising support.
The company published Engineers Australia’s sixth Salary and Benefits Survey publication following the completion of an online employer survey in December 2008. Our other publishing activities, Water Engineering Australia magazine, Engineering World magazine, Online Publishing and Contract Publishing all contributed to the financial performance of the company.
New projects earmarked for 2010 include the launch of a new digital engineering publication and increasing the number of digital titles available from EA Book’s website.
Financial
Engineers Media recorded a net surplus of $56,824 (budget $120,900 surplus) for the financial year ending June 30, 2009 (2008: $272,800 surplus). The company’s total revenue decreased by 3% to $4.6 million, while expenses increased by 1.7%. Overall this was a pleasing result considering the deteriorating advertising market during the last 6 months of the financial year.
Bruce Roff
General Manager
Engineering Education Australia
The 2008-2009 year has seen some very exciting new program developments. One of these is the delivery of the Professional Year for Engineers, which assists international students who have completed their degree in Australia and want to gain permanent residency and employment. This year’s program has 70 participants and is progressing well.
The elearning centre is continuing to grow slowly; we are focussing on blended approaches that combine elearning with face-to-face delivery. The online Diploma of Project Management continued to progress well and now has twenty-five enrolments.
There was an increased focus on providing technical courses with the number and breadth of technical offerings growing – several conducted in conjunction with our international engineering association counterparts.
Another new development, the Graduate Program in Engineering, was developed through the year and will be launched in August 2009 for delivery in March 2010. This is a very exciting initiative that is aimed at providing a structured ten-module program over three years towards the achievement of Chartered Status.
Participation
Participant numbers for the year reached 2,687 compared with 2,984 last financial year. There were 129 public programs delivered compared with 154 last year. For in-house courses the participant numbers increased to 1,662 in the current year from 1,551 last year.
Planning
At recent planning events held with our partners, staff and Board members the following priorities were identified as being important for EEA:
- Continue to grow the focus on technical programs
- Develop a business model, which involves our partners
- Look for new ways to offer increased value to our clients
- Promote EEA as a partner to organisations rather than a service provider
- Improved client management
- Focus on improving the quality of our programs
Financial
For the financial year 2008-2009, EEA recorded a surplus of $14,097 compared to a surplus of $300,657 last year. The result is well short of the planned surplus however a positive result of any magnitude is a pleasing result in the current climate.
Ann Ellis
General Manager
