Abstract
This paper is the outcome of a study made to investigate the students' approach to learning in a core subject of a first year Mechanical Engineering Course at the University of New South Wales. The Biggs Study Process Questionnaire was used to study the learning strategy of the students. Also, students were interviewed in order to understand their perceptions of the teaching context. A student evaluation of teaching was conducted using a standard evaluation procedure to investigate if the students' approach to learning is related to the teching adopted. It was found that a substantial proportion of students adopted a surface approach in their study strategies. The reasons for this are discussed in relation to the context of teaching and information obtained from students' feedback on teaching.