Parents

Headstart Courses

Intensive residential courses that introduce Year 12/S5 students interested in mathematics and science to the world of science, engineering and technology. 

Attendees experience life as a first year undergraduate participating for up to a week in design, build and test activities, lectures and seminars, visiting engineering firms and talking to academics and recent graduates.  Opportunities to meet employers are available on most courses.

Students offset part of the cost through payment of a fee and are required to pay their travel costs to the course and back.  Many schools provide bursaries (students should ask at school for details) and Headstart can help in cases of financial hardship.

Aerospace and Aeronautics   Explore the concepts of aerodynamic lift and drag and learn the basic principles of space flight. Combined with flight and space applications, new concepts in advanced aircraft and aerospace will be analysed. Chemical Engineering Chemical Engineering deals with the chemical transformation of raw materials into products of value to mankind.  Students get hands-on experience in emerging and exciting areas of chemical engineering biotechnology, membrane synthesis and polymerisation.

Mathematics  Applied Mathematics provide the foundation for all scientific disciplines.  It is used everywhere to analyse, model and resolve real world problems.  In this programme students explore the mathematics used in Global Positioning Systems (GPS), first developed for military satellites, used today for other projects such as global warming prediction. Mechanical Engineering  Explore technical challenges spanning design, analysis and the manufacturing of state-of-the-art thermal, fluid , mechanical, environmental and electric systems.  In this programme students see a sampling of such systems and experience the role that mechanical engineers play. Activities include; an interactive introduction to micro-electro-mechanical systems and a tour of the engineering facilities at a local company. Physics  Engineering physics focuses on the physical foundations of modern technology.  Core subjects include mechanics, electricity and magnetism, thermal physics and quantum mechanics.  This programme will explore preparation for research and development of careers in several frontier areas of engineering including lasers, liquid crystals and magnetism.

Civil and Architectural Engineering Learn how engineers fulfil the needs of society by building homes and infrastructure, and by keeping the environment clean.  Experience some of their activities with sessions in bridge building, utilising solar energy and witnessing some of the reactions caused by environmental contaminants. Computing and Information Systems  Hands-on experience with state of the art hardware as well as new ideas in software.   Topics include artificial intelligence, supercomputers, networks, graphics and computer games.  Also included is a site visit to a local company developing cutting edge solutions to every day problems. Electrical and Computer Engineering  Electrical and computer engineers deal with a wide range of topics that are changing our world.  These include electronics, control systems, communications, computers, signal processing and biomedical engineering.  Students learn about these topics through lectures, demonstrations and laboratory experiment Environmental Engineering  Environmental Engineers play an essential role in maintaining the quality of both human and natural environments.  They are involved in maintaining and assessing the health of the natural environment and in designing and operating systems to prevent, control and redirect air, water and soil pollution.  Students will investigate the engineers role in monitoring natural ecosystems and in preventing pollution from transport, industry and household activities.

These details are intended to describe the range of options available - it is not usually possible to cover every subject or point in depth.  Course content is shown at the Courses section of the website.
  
Students are required to stay on campus at all times unless supervised by an adult connected with the course.  Any who disregard this requirement will be sent home early.  Offers are made by Headstart in writing in March and Joining Instructions are issued to successful applicants three to four weeks before the course starts.

Offers are made by Headstart, not the university: this procedure is designed to ensure that as many students as possible have an opportunity to attend the programme.