La Trobe launches Australia's first AI engineering degree

La Trobe University has launched a Bachelor of AI Engineering (Honours), which it describes as Australia's first undergraduate qualification dedicated to AI engineering.

Co-designed with Cisco and Rockwell Automation, the degree is due to welcome its first cohort in Semester 1 2027. It builds on the Digital Skills for Industry partnership the two companies established with La Trobe in 2024 to address shortages in artificial intelligence, industrial automation, networking, cybersecurity and operational technology.

The course is intended to train engineers to design, build, manage and support AI systems for use across sectors including healthcare, financial services, transport, logistics and manufacturing. It focuses on deploying AI in manufacturing, robotics, sensors, the internet of things, automation, medical technologies and production environments, while also covering software skills for agentic AI systems and workflows.

The launch comes as universities and industry face growing pressure to prepare workers for wider use of AI in industrial settings. Rockwell Automation's 2026 State of Smart Manufacturing report found that 90 per cent of manufacturers considered digital transformation essential to remain competitive, while more than half expected their operations to be AI-augmented by 2030.

Engineers Australia has also called on universities to play a larger role in equipping engineers with the AI skills needed to use emerging technologies safely, ethically and effectively.

Professor Theo Farrell, Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University, said the degree reflected a shift in how AI is being used across the economy.

"We have reached a point where AI is moving beyond experimentation into real-world deployment across every major industry," Farrell said.

"It is critical that Australia has the engineers capable of designing, integrating and managing AI safely in complex environments.

"That's exactly what our new Bachelor of AI Engineering has been built to address, co-designed with two major industry partners, Cisco and Rockwell Automation.

"The new degree program draws on La Trobe's AI-first strategy and the university's growing capability across artificial intelligence research, industry partnerships and real-world innovation to prepare graduates who can lead the next generation of engineering.

"Skills developed through this degree can be applied across a diverse range of industries beyond manufacturing, from financial services to healthcare, transport and logistics."

The university linked the course to its broader AI strategy and to the La Trobe AI Institute, which brings together research, education and industry collaboration in fields including medical innovation, biotechnology, agriculture, digital infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.

Students are expected to work on practical industry problems through collaborations involving organisations including Cisco, Microsoft, NVIDIA and CyberCX. As an example of the kind of multidisciplinary work the degree is intended to support, La Trobe pointed to an AI-based smart irrigation platform designed to help farmers reduce water use and save energy.

Industry backing

Cisco and Rockwell Automation presented the course as an extension of their earlier work with the university on industrial skills. Both pointed to a need for workers who can operate across operational technology, information technology and AI.

"When Cisco and Rockwell Automation launched the Digital Skills for Industry initiative in 2024, we recognised that Australia's manufacturers needed people who could bridge operational technology, information technology and artificial intelligence," said Stefan Leitl, Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Australia and New Zealand.

"Two years on, that challenge has only become more urgent. La Trobe's Bachelor of AI Engineering (Honours) represents the natural evolution of that vision. Rather than responding only to today's skills gap, we're helping build the workforce Australia will need over the next decade.

"This is what meaningful industry-university collaboration looks like: combining research excellence, industry expertise and education to prepare graduates who can confidently apply AI in the environments where it will deliver the greatest economic impact."

Leitl added: "The level of automation innovation in industry is helping pave the way for Australian manufacturing to make a comeback, making these skills more important than ever."

Rockwell Automation focused on the implications for industrial operations and productivity, arguing that engineers will need to understand both AI systems and the physical environments in which they are deployed.

"AI is fundamentally changing how products are designed, manufactured and maintained.

"The organisations that succeed will be those with people who know how to integrate AI into industrial operations safely, efficiently and at scale.

"That's why this degree is so important. It's creating the engineering capability Australia's manufacturers and industrial producers have told us they need," said Adrian Giecco, Regional Vice President South Pacific, Rockwell Automation.

Wider debate

The launch adds to a broader debate in Australia about how to turn research strength in AI into commercial and industrial use. Universities have produced research in areas including medical therapies and advanced manufacturing, but policymakers and industry groups have questioned whether the country has enough workers with the mix of engineering and software knowledge needed to apply those advances in real-world settings.

La Trobe's new course is aimed squarely at that gap, combining core engineering with AI deployment in physical systems. The university said this approach was intended to support sovereign capability as industries adopt more automated and AI-assisted processes.

The course also reflects a broader shift in higher education towards programmes designed with direct employer input, especially in areas where demand for skills is changing quickly. In this case, the university and its partners are betting that demand for engineers who can connect AI models with industrial machinery, sensors and production systems will continue to rise.

For manufacturers, the issue is tied not only to efficiency but also to competitiveness, workforce planning and the ability to maintain systems safely. For universities, it raises the question of how quickly degree structures can adapt to technologies moving from research labs into day-to-day operations.