The University of Wollongong (UOW) was in Wagga yesterday to shore up support for maths and science subjects at school - the academic bedrock for a career in engineering.

Doctor Bob Wheway, a senior lecturer at the UOW Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences, said students need to choose the right school subjects early on.

Dr Wheway said the university was targeting year nine and 10 students in regional schools to ensure they stay in school and to provide advice on what subjects they should choose.

"The Australian uni system only produces half the professional engineers it needs at the moment," he said.

"We are relying on people coming in from overseas."

Wagga High School technology teacher Josh McKenzie said it could be hard to motivate students to study numbers subjects.

He said the challenge was "connecting the dots" for students to see where subjects could lead them.

"For a lot of students they don't realise with engineering that you've got to have science and you've got to have maths," he said.

"Why aren't students motivated? It's a question everyone is asking at the moment."

Matt Garlam, 19, is a mechanical engineering student at UOW who went to Kooringal High. He studied mainly advanced mathematics and science subjects for his HSC.

"A lot of the people from the country have the initiative and they've got the know how," he said.

"A lot of them think the only way to do what they do is to get a trade and go through TAFE when you can just go straight up to university."

Dr Wheway said the falling rates of students studying engineering could be damaging for the economy.

"When we get a resurgence in the economy, if there's a shortage of technical people to roll with it, it will slow it down," he said.

"It comes back to everybody being convinced that technology is important for the country."