USQ seeks women for its surveying degrees

University of Southern Queensland is pushing to enrol more women like Rebecca Johnston in its surveying degrees.

University of Southern Queensland surveying student Rebecca Johnston

The University of Southern Queensland is hoping the example of students such as Rebecca Johnston will encourage more women to take on the male-dominated field of surveying, where demand is exceeding supply.

Ms Johnston is in the first year of an associate degree of spatial science (surveying) at USQ’s Springfield campus, one of 700 students enrolled in surveying and spatial science courses at the university in 2021.

At the moment women account for only five per cent of surveyors, and 34 per cent of those in the spatial science industry.

“The fact that the industry is very male-dominated shouldn’t deter anyone,” Miss Johnston said. “There aren’t many women in the field because they either don’t know surveying exists or it’s just not for them.”

She is already working in the field as assistant surveyor, and says her preference at this stage is for hydrological surveying.

“I thought about careers in geology, oceanography and environmental science, but surveying allows you to enjoy the outdoors one day and go to the office the next to draw up what you calculated the day before.

“There is also a high demand for new surveyors and the career is continuously developing as new technology becomes available.”

USQ is the only provider of surveying degrees in Queensland and claims to have the most surveying and spatial science students in the country. Almost half of its surveying teaching staff are women.

“It’s great to know they are the kind of women I could be working with one day, but it would be nice to see more like-minded girls doing surveying,” Ms Johnston said.