Prof. Iacint Manoliu
AECEF NEWSLETTER 1-2/2000
Prof. Iacint Manoliu
SOCRATES – ERASMUS Thematic Network EUCEET
State-of-the art of the Project
in its second year
(1 September 1999 – 31 August 2000)
by Prof. Iacint Manoliu
Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest
Secretary General of the EUCEET Steering Committee
Thematic Network Project
55779-CP-1-98-1-FR-ERASMUS-ETN
The Steering Committee of the SOCRATES Thematic Network Project EUCEET fully endorsed the proposal made by the Secretariat of AECEF to use the AECEF Newsletter for disseminating information on the development of the project, instead of publishing a separate Newsletter. In the previous issue of the AECEF Newsletter, 2/1999, a State-of-the art of the EUCEET Project by the end of the 1st year (31 August 1999) was included. In this issue, space is given for a review of the activities already undertaken in the second year which started on 1st September 1999, and for a state-of-the art of the Project in the wake of the most important event so far in its existence: the Second General Assembly in Odense.
Meetings of the Steering Committee in Bratislava and Lyon
In the first year of the Project, the Steering Committee met three times: on 7 December 1998 in Paris, on 23 February 1999 in Barcelona and on 26-27 July 1999 in London.
The first meeting of the Steering Committee in the second year took place on 10th December 1999 in Bratislava, being hosted by the Slovak University of Technology.
The Meeting was attended by the following members of the Steering Committee: Prof. Marie-Ange Cammarota, ENPC Paris, Coordinator; Dr. David Lloyd Smith, Imperial College London, Deputy Coordinator; Prof. Iacint Manoliu, TUCE Bucharest, Secretary General; Prof. Jose Luis Juan-Aracil, ETSICCP Madrid; Prof. Laurie Boswell, City University London; Prof. Richard Kastner, INSA Lyon; Prof. Jose Manuel Pinto Ferreira Lemos, University of Porto; Prof. Josef Machacek, Czech Technical University Prague and AECEF.
The meeting was also attended by a number of representatives of partner institutions, namely: François-Gerard Baron, Paris, European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE); Assoc. Prof. Nicoleta Radulescu, TUCE Bucharest, Deputy member of the EUCEET Executive Board; Prof. Györky Farkas, Technical University of Budapest; Dr. Antal Lovas, Technical University of Budapest; Colin Kerr, Imperial College London; Prof. Stanislav Majewski, Silesian Technical University, Gliwice; Doc. Ing. Alois Materna, Czech Chamber of Engineers, Prague; Assoc. Prof. Vincentas Stragys, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
The Slovak University of Technology, host of the meeting, was represented by: Assoc. Prof. Jozef Dicky, Vice-Dean, Faculty of the Faculty of Civil Engineering; Jana Tomkova, Head of Foreign Relations Division.
Prof. Marie-Ange Cammarota, Coordinator, informed the participants about the provisions of the contract received from the EC for the second year of the project. The main figures of the contract for 1999-2000 were presented, in comparison with those corresponding to the contract for the first year. Thus, the maximum grant allocated is 286,300 EUROs as compared with 135,000 EUROs in 1998-1999. The increase is particularly significant for the EUR 18 partners (from 90,000 to 210,000 EUROs), due in part to the fact that the percentage financing for the EUR 18 countries increased from 34,13% to 45%. The total maximum additional aid for the associated countries increased from 45,000 EUROs to 76,300 EUROs, due to the increase of the number of partners eligible for financial support from 7 to 16.
The budgetary provisions of the contract, both for the Socrates grant and for the co-financing, were also presented.
Participants were also informed about the Final Report for the first year which was prepared in Bucharest by Marie-Ange Cammarota, Iacint Manoliu and Nicoleta Radulescu and was sent to Brussels in due time, before 30 September 1999.
Prof. Iacint Manoliu, Secretary General, presented the developments which took place since the previous meeting of the Steering Committee (27 July 1999, London). A letter of endorsement was received from the University of Nottingham. Included in the list of partners for the 3rd year of the project were also the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy from Sofia, Bulgaria and the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians, Prague, whose letters of endorsements came after the submission of the Reapplication Form for the second year.
Extensive presentations on EUCEET were made by the Secretary General at the 1999 SEFI Annual Conference (Winterthur, 31 August – 3 September 1999) and at the International Symposium Civil Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELTic) held in Cardiff, on 8-10 September 1999.
EUCEET was on the agenda of the 30th meeting of the European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE), Nicosia, Cyprus, 8-9 October 1999 when the Secretary General informed participants on the activities undertaken so far and made specific proposals for the involvement of ECCE members in the EUCEET activities.
Prof. J. F. Lemos, Chairman of the Working Group B (”Quality assessment and accreditation in Civil Engineering Education”) informed the participants about the activity of the Group, which is dealing with two distinct matters: Accreditation and Quality Management.
For the Working Group C (”Synergies between university, research, industry and public authorities in the construction sector of Europe”) the information was presented by Prof. L. Boswell, Chairman of the WG. The questionnaire distributed to academic partners institutions after the previous meeting of the WG (Dresden, 17 July 1999), already brought a promising number of responses.
Prof. Iacint Manoliu, Chairman of the Working Group A (”Curriculum in Civil Engineering Education at undergraduate level”) made a brief overview of the answers to the questionnaire on the undergraduate curricula in civil engineering education, including the amendments introduced at the previous meeting of the WG (London, 26 July 1999) concerning the division of subjects in the curricula in a number of 8 curricular categories.
Activities to be undertaken in the second year of the project until the end of the funding period (31.08.2000) were also thoroughly examined during the Steering Committee meeting in Bratislava.
The workplan for the second year, as defined in the Reapplication Form and discussed in the London meeting of the Steering Committee, had to be reassessed considering the grant allocated and the co-financing for the 2nd year, as they were established in the contract received from the Commission. Following the same pattern as in July 1999 in London, it was decided to convene a new meeting of the Steering Committee for Monday 28 February 2000 in Lyon, before the meeting of the Working Group A. Having in view this activity, a revised workplan for the 2nd year of the project was adopted.
Proposals for the transition from the second to the third year of the project and for the activities in the third year to be included in the Renewal Form, due to arrive in Brussels by 1st March 2000, were also discussed. In the first month of 2000, efforts will be concentrated on the activity at the level of the Working Groups and on the preparations for the second General Assembly to take place in Odense, Denmark, on 18-20 May 2000.
At the General Assembly in Odense, comprehensive reports of the Working Groups A, B and C will be presented and discussed. Each working group will then decide on team (core WG) which will give the final shape of the reports discussed at the General Assembly in order to send them to print before the end of the second year.
The General Assembly in Odense will mark also the launching of the activities of the three new Working Groups, D, E and F. Terms of reference for the WGs D, E and F will be discussed and approved by the Steering Committee at the meeting in Lyon, on 28 February 2000. Through contacts with partner institutions, the Chairpersons of the WGs D, E and F will start to recruit members for the respective Working Groups before the Odense meeting, which would be, thus, better prepared.
Following Odense, two more meetings of the Steering Committee, with the participation of the chair persons of the Working Groups are planned for 2000: in Prague, on Friday 21 July 2000 and in Paris, on Friday 1 December 2000.
A general scheme of the activities to take place between the Bratislava meeting and the end of the project (31 August 2001) was presented and approved and is given in the fig. 1.
An important point on the Agenda was the nomination of the chairpersons for the Working Groups D, E and F.
For the Working Group D ”Postgraduate programmes and continuing professional development in civil engineering”, a proposal was made by Assoc. Prof. Nicoleta Radulescu who showed that since the theme of the WG D is a continuation of the theme of the WG A (”Curriculum in civil engineering at undergraduate level”) the Chairman of the WG A, Prof. Iacint Manoliu should to continue his activity. No other proposal was made. Prof. Iacint Manoliu accepted to assume this task.
For the Working Group E (”Innovation in teaching and learning in civil engineering education”), Mr. Colin Kerr proposed as Chairman Prof. Patrick Holmes from the Department of Civil Engineering at Imperial College, London. The proposal was approved by the Steering Committee the final decision pending the acceptance by Prof. Holmes of this task (In a communication dated 17 December 1999, Colin Kerr announced that Prof. Holmes accepted to chair the WG D).
For the Working Group F (”Demands of the economic and professional environments in respect to civil engineering education”) Prof. Iacint Manoliu proposed as Chairman M. Francois-Gerard Baron, ex-President of the European Council of Civil Engineers. The proposal was approved by the Committee.
Thanking for the election, M. Francois-Gerard Baron made a presentation of the aims and structure of ECCE and stressed the willingness of the Council and of its members to support the activity of the Working Group F and to contribute to the success of the Project EUCEET.
The fifth meeting of the Steering Committee, since the beginning of the Project, and the second in 1999/2000 took place in Lyon, on 28th February 2000 and was hosted by the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées – INSA, Departement GCU (Génie Civil – Urbanisme).
The meeting was attended by the following members of the Steering Committee:
Prof. Marie-Ange Cammarota, ENPC Paris, Coordinator; Prof. David Lloyd Smith, Imperial College London, Deputy Coordinator; Prof. Iacint Manoliu, TUCE Bucharest, Secretary General; Prof. Jose Luis Juan-Aracil, ETSICCP Madrid; Prof. Giovanni Barla, Politecnico di Torino; Prof. Laurie Boswell, City University London; Prof. Richard Kastner, INSA Lyon; Dipl.–Ing. Stefan Bergmann, in lieu of Prof. S. Savidis, T.U. Berlin; Prof. Pedro Diez, in lieu of Prof. Juan Ramon Casas, ETSICCP Barcelona;
Prof. Josef Machacek, Czech Technical University Prague and AECEF.
The meeting was also attended by a number of representatives of partner institutions, namely: Prof. Patrick Holmes, Imperial College London, Chairman of the Working Group E; François-Gérard Baron, Paris, European Council of Civil Engineers (ECCE) Chairman of the Working Group F; Assoc. Prof. Nicoleta Rãdulescu, TUCE Bucharest, Deputy member of the Executive Board; Prof. Eivind Bratteland, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim; Dr. Ban Seng Choo, University of Nottingham; Prof. Manfred Federau, Engineering College of Odense; Colin Kerr, Imperial College London; Prof. Riszard Kowalczyk, University of Coimbra Interior, Covilha; Antal Lovas, Budapest University of Technology and Economics; Stanislaw Majewski, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice; Dipl.-Ing. Ralf Reinecke, T.U. Munich; Drs. Helena Wasmus, T.U. Delft .
Prof. Iacint Manoliu, Secretary General of the Steering Committee, presented a Report on the meeting of coordinators of the SOCRATES Thematic Network Projects he attended in Brussels on 23 January, 2000. The most relevant things, as far as EUCEET is concerned, learned at the meeting were the following ones:
A recent reorganization took place inside the Commission: former DG X (Multimedia, Sport, Culture, Libraries) and DG XII (Education, Youth, Training) merged, forming a new Directorate General for Education and Culture which employs more than 1,000 people.
Final negotiations for SOCRATES II for a period of 7 years (2000-2006) ended. The Parliament aimed at 2.5 billion. The Commission gave only 1.5 billion. Finally, an agreement was reached for 1.850 millions EURO. In fact, SOCRATES II already started on 1st of January 2000. However, the publication of the approval document will be made in the Official Journal of the EC by the end of February 2000.
In 1998 were selected 9 projects (one of them is EUCEET).
In 1999 the call of proposals was restricted to 6 areas and only 2 projects were selected, one of them being in fact an old project which functioned in 1996-97 and then was discontinued.
The 24 projects which started in 1996 and ended in 1999 were offered in 1998 the chance to apply for one-year extension for dissemination purposes. Only 16 TNPs applied and were awarded a 12-month contract (01.11.1999 – 31.10.2000).
The Call for TNPs for 2000-2001 was open for:
The year 2000 is a transition from SOCRATES I to SOCRATES II. A change was made for the deadline to submit new applications, which in 2000 will be 1st November, 2000 (in 1999 was 15 November). The Guidelines for Applicants for 2000-2001 will be published in April 2000.
A significant change, as compared to SOCRATES I, is that Thematic Network Projects will become part of the Institutional Contract. Therefore, the commitment of each institution partner in a Thematic Network Project must be mentioned in the European Policy Statement.
Another change, most likely to occur, is that the Thematic Network Projects will be awarded contract on a multiannual basis, not on a yearly basis as in present.
Thematic Network Projects which will end on 31 August 2001 (like EUCEET) have two options:
The title of the Thematic Network can remain the same, but the Project proposed should be different from the previous one.
A Report to the European Commission entitled ”Changing the University: the supporting role of the Erasmus Thematic Networks (a three-year perspective)” was presented by Dr. Philippe Ruffio from ENSA Rennes.
The Report showed that Thematic Networks constitute, undoubtedly, one of the main innovations of the Socrates/Erasmus programme launched in 1996. Areas and themes covered by the Thematic Networks were grouped in 3 categories: classical academic themes (including civil engineering), specialisation fields and transversal networks. On average, each Network involves 132 higher education institutions, ranging from forty to more than 400. In October 1999, the total number of higher education institutions participating to the thematic networks was 5523, from which 5259 from eligible countries. Five countries brought almost half of the total number of participants (UK 16%, FR 10%, DE 8%, IT 8%, ES 7%), while the new associated countries brought 10%. Poland, Hungary and Romania contribute half of the activity of these countries.
In an appendix to the Report, Thematic Networks summary description was presented, comprising data on partner associations or organisations, general objectives of the project, main outcomes and products, ongoing activities etc. A fairly complete description of EUCEET was included.
A directory of Thematic Network Projects may be found at the European Commission’s Web site: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg 22/socrates/
Participants were informed on the provisions of the Renewal Form for the 3nd year of the Project which was prepared in Bucharest by Prof. Marie-Ange Cammarota, Prof. Iacint Manoliu and Assoc. Prof. Nicoleta Rãdulescu and sent to Brussels and also to all partners.
In the time interval elapsed since the meeting in Bratislava, new Letters of endorsement came from academic institutions, eligible for financial support from the EC as well as from non-academic institutions, non-eligible for financial support.
The number of academic partners increased with 10, as compared with the previous year. The new partners are from Poland (2), Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and U.K.
The number of non-academic partners increased with 4 as compared with the previous year.
The distribution of the total number of partners between various types of organisations is given in the following table:
Table 1
| Code | Type of organisation | Number of partners | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998/1999 | 1999/2000 | 2000/2001 | ||
| EDU.4 | Higher education institution | 43 | 50 | 59 |
| ASS.1 | Non-profit association (national) | 7 | 8 | 13 |
| ASS.2 | Non-profit association (international) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| ASS.3 | Association of Universities | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| RES | Research institute | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| TOTAL | 58 | 66 | 80 | |
The distribution of the number of academic partners (EDU.4) per countries and per year is shown in the table below:
Table 2
| EU + EEA (15 + 3) countries | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | AT | BE | DE | DK | ES | FI | FR | GR | IE | IT | LI | NO | NL | PT | SE | UK | Total |
| 1998/1999 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 33 |
| 1999/2000 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 34 |
| 2000/2001 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | - | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 37 |
| Associated countries | |||||||||||||||||
| Year | BG | CZ | EE | HU | LT | LV | PL | RO | SI | SK | Total | ||||||
| 1998/1999 | - | 2 | - | 1 | - | 1* | - | 4 | - | 2* | 10 | ||||||
| 1999/2000 | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 16 | ||||||
| 2000/2001 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 22 | ||||||
Legend: * non-eligible for financial support
It is important to underline the constant increase of the number of partners from associated countries, from 10 in 1998/1999 to 16 in 1999/2000 and to 22 in 2000/2001. By this way, the academic partners from the associated countries will represent in 2000/2001 37% from the total number of academic partners.
As for the financial matters, the SOCRATES grant request for 2000/2001 is 674,500 EURO, as compared to 340,000 EURO requested in 1999/2000 (form which 286,300 EURO – 84.2% - were approved).
The main topic on the agenda of the Lyon meeting was the discussion of the Terms of reference for the Workshop Groups D, E and F, prepared and presented by the chair persons of the WGs.
Prof. Iacint Manoliu (Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest), Chairman of the Working Group D ”Postgraduate programmes and continuing professional development in civil engineering” presented the Terms of reference for the WG D. As in the case of the Working Group A, the main objective of the WG D is to conduct a Survey by using a comprehensive Questionnaire to be launched at the General Assembly in Odense. It is expected to number most of the members of the Working Group A among the participants to the activities of the WG D.
Prof. Patrick Holmes (Imperial College London) presented the Terms of reference for the Working Group E ”Innovation in teaching and learning in civil engineering education”. Prof. Holmes referred also to his experience in a Working Group of another Thematic Network Project (H3E – Higher Engineering Education in Europe), which ended in August 1999.
Mr. François-Gérard Baron, ex-President of ECCE (European Council of Civil Engineers), presented the general directions for the activity of the Working Group F ”Demands of the economic and professional environments in respect to civil engineering education”. He stressed the need to involve in this activity not only the representatives of academic institutions and professional associations partners in the Thematic Network but also representatives of a number of trans-European organisations, grouping the associations of contractors, of consulting engineers, of building professionals etc.
The Terms of reference for the three new Working Groups, approved by the Steering Committee, are presented in extenso after this report.
Meetings of the Working Groups A, B and C
A new serie of meetings of the Working Groups A, B and C were planned to take place in the second year of the Project, before the General Assembly in Odense.
The third meeting of the Working Group A, after Barcelona (23 February 1999) and London (26 July 1999), took place in Lyon, on 28-29 February 2000 and was hosted by I.N.S.A.
The 21 participants represented the following universities: Imperial College London, University of Nottingham, T.U. Berlin, T.U. Dresden, Université Catholique de Louvain, University of Liege, E.N.T.P.E. Lyon, Technical University of Catalunia, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, University of Beira Interior Covilha, Czech Technical University Prague, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Trinity College Dublin, Delft University of Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Silesian University of Technology Gliwice, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, University of Technology and Economics, Budapest and Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest.
Assoc. Prof. Tudor Bugnariu (TUCE Bucharest) made a State-of-the art of received answers to the EUCEET questionnaires on the civil engineering education at undergraduate level. Cumulated data on received answers are given in the table 3. By 1st questionnaire is understood the questionnaire distributed after the First EUCEET General Assembly in Barcelona, 22-23 February 1999. By 2nd questionnaire is understood the amended questionnaire resulting from the WG A meeting in London, when it was decided to ask respondents to assign the course units of the curriculum in one of the following 8 categories: A. Basic Sciences; B. Engineering Sciences; C. Core Civil Engineering Subjects; D. Engineering Specialization; E. Economics and Management; F. Humanities, Social sciences, Languages and Physical education; G. Field work; H. Final project.
Table 3
| TOTAL | 1st QUESTIONNAIRE |
2nd QUESTIONNAIRE |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RECEIVED ANSWERS |
COMPLETE ANSWERS |
NO CURRICULA |
INCOMPLETE CURRICULA |
ANNEX |
E-MAIL ANSWERS |
RECEIVED ANSWERS |
||
| 1st YEAR PARTNERS |
45 | 40 | 31 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 31 | 24 |
| 2nd YEAR PARTNERS |
7 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | ||
| 3rd YEAR PARTNERS |
5 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | ||
| OTHER INSTITUTIONS |
46 | 46 | 24 | 10 | 2 | 10 | 17 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 103 | 96 | 63 | 12 | 7 | 14 | 56 | 29 |
Cumulative tables and sample tables with processed data on the answers concerning the first part of the questionnaire, related to the organization of studies, were presented and discussed. It was decided to send to all partners the cumulative tables referring to the first part of the questionnaire, to be checked before being presented in Odense. Also, it was decided to send to all partners the table with curricula subjects, with total contact hours per category, to be checked before Odense.
Based on the proposals and amendments made at the General Assembly in Odense, revised form of the reports on the part I (organisation of studies) and part II (curricula) of the questionnaire will be prepared in Bucharest. Then, in a meeting of WG A’s core members in Prague, on 20-22 July 2000, is previewed to discuss the revised form of the reports and to agree on the final form for publication and dissemination.
The third meeting of the Working Group B (”Quality management and accreditation in Civil Engineering education”) took place in Porto, on 14-15 April 2000.
The third meeting of the Working Group C (”Synergies between university, research, industry and public authorities in the construction sector of Europe”) took place in Barcelona, on 14 April 2000.
By the time this report is being written (24 April 2000) minutes of the meetings in Porto and Barcelona were not available. Participants at the Second EUCEET General Assembly will be duly informed about the meetings and, in general, about the outcomes of the activities of these working groups, during the plenary session devoted to each of the WG.
The Second EUCEET General Assembly
As already stated, the Second EUCEET General Assembly is an event of crucial importance for the Thematic Network Project EUCEET.
The Steering Committee accepted with pleasure the kind offer made by the Engineering College in Odense to host the General Assembly. At the meeting which took place in Lyon on 28 February 2000, Prof. Manfred Federau informed the participants about the preparations going on for the General Assembly.
The agenda of the Second EUCEET General Assembly follows the pattern of the agenda of the First General Assembly in Barcelona. However, due to the superposition of the actions related to the ”old” working groups (A, B, C) and ”new” working groups (D, E, F) the duration was extended from 1.5 to 2.5 days.
Here is the Agenda of the Second EUCEET General Assembly, 18-20 May 2000, Odense.
Thursday 18 May, 2000
8.00 – 9.00 Registration of the participants
9.00 – 10.30 Plenary session
11.00 – 12.00 Parallel sessions
13.30 – 15.00 Plenary session
15.30 – 17.00 Plenary session
Friday 19 May, 2000
9.00 – 10.30 Plenary session
11.00 – 12.00 Plenary session
13.30 – 14.30 Plenary session
15.00 – 16.00 Plenary session
Saturday 20 May, 2000
9.00 – 10.30 Parallel sessions
11.00 – 12.00 Plenary session
More information on EUCEET and the updated list of partners can be found in the web page of the Project: http: //www.euceet.utcb.ro
Working Group D
Postgraduate Programmes and Continuing
Professional Development in Civil Engineering
Chairman Prof. Iacint Manoliu
Terms of reference
The main objective of the Working Group D is to conduct a Survey on postgraduate programmes and continuing professional development in civil engineering.
The Survey will be based on a Questionnaire, which will be built in three distinct entities:
Parts I and II of the Questionnaire will be distributed to higher education institutions, partners or non-partners in EUCEET.
Part III of the Questionnaire will be distributed to both higher education institutions and professional associations, partner or non-partners in EUCEET.
The analysis of the Questionnaire returns will lead to the preparation and publication of three comprehensive studies:
Tentatively, the activity plan of the WG D is as follows:
Working Group E
Innovation in Teaching and Learning in Civil Engineering
A Note on the Terms of Reference
P. Holmes, Imperial College
(Chairman of the Working Group)
The EUCEET Steering Committee has stated that:
”The major objective of Working Group E is to identify and disseminate best practise in teaching and learning in civil engineering education”.
And indicated the need for a survey on existing and new pedagogical methods such as case studies, problem-solving, multi-media, open and distance learning etc.
It has also been noted that ”A special goal of Working Group E will be to prepare a debate on the range of skills a civil engineering graduate for the 21st Century will need and on the educational methods to be used for equipping students with such skills”.
Working Group A will shortly report on its conclusions on the topics ”Curriculum in Civil Engineering Education at undergraduate level” and this will provide the background to a consideration of teaching methods – in this note termed ”the delivery modes”.
There are several significant and changing factors that create the context for the study by Working Group E, the major ones being:
It appears that little effort is devoted to evaluating student attitudes, in contrast to the extensive use of such processes in the profession.
New skills and attitudes demanded by the profession relate to the relative reduction in what can be called ”engineering science” – the traditional topics such as structural engineering, fluid mechanics etc. – in favour of ”professional topics”. Clearly, there is a need for an appropriate balance between the two sectors which will differ between different institutions. Thus the Working Group needs to concentrate on how these demands are best satisfied in an undergraduate degree course.
Design and its teaching is a complex topic and there seems to be limited source material collected in a coherent way in one document although there are many papers in the literature on this topic. Thus the intention for Working Group E to survey and collate best practise in this, and other, sectors is laudable but not easy!
The seemingly increasing limitations on the time of academic staff in two senses, firstly, limits in ”contact time”, and, secondly, restrictions on the support and time available to develop new delivery modes cannot be ignored. The latter leads to the topic of educational software and its mobility – it is inefficient for our colleagues to be duplicating effort in such development. However, all academics are unique in the way in which they deliver learning opportunities to students and there thus seems to be a need for mobile educational software to be adaptable by the user to his or her particular needs.
To provide the desired end products of the study requires considerable effort and, to parallel professional practise, one can estimate the number of ”man-days” necessary, once the Working Group’s objectives have been more clearly identified. Such an estimate clearly also links to the ”contribution in kind” component of the entire EUCEET programme. The key to success is to attract sufficient numbers of colleagues with the enthusiasm to devote the necessary time to this effort with sufficient priority.
The range of topics to be considered is large and it may be advisable to divide the work into perhaps three sub-groups. CADL, for example, is an enormous area to consider and merits the input of a significant number of our colleagues who are expert in that area. Sub-division if any programme requires full communication between the sub-divisions which, in our case, will need to be based on e-mail with Working Group meetings designed to consider each area in its own right, and, essentially, to ensure the integration of those areas in the output.
This approach has the advantage for EUCEET of involving more members of the Network but there needs to be strong motivation to encourage adequate commitment to the work.
The proposed initiation of Working Group E at the Odense meeting requires the identification of ”core” members, say ten in number. The tasks at Odense are to expand the terms of reference as given in 1 above, in the light of this note and the input of the Steering Committee, to identify the responsibilities of sub-groups and, critically, to expand the membership to an adequate size. For the meetings of the Working Group in October/November 2000 and April/June 2001 attendance will be limited by the financial resources available.
Working Group F
Relation with the Profession
Chairman: F. G. Baron, ECCE
Terms of reference
During last decade, the sector of civil engineering has faced an important recession which has entailed a reduction of employment of workers as well as engineers.
Five main factors may be identified:
As in other industrial sectors, civil engineers will have to change jobs many times during their professional careers, even if they remain all life long in the civil engineering.
In the same time, new technologies are bringing significant changes of professional practices.
Within this context, the group F will address the following goals:
The study will address the adjustment on a quantitative aspect (number of engineers produced and required) as well as on a qualitative aspect.
It will evaluate:
The task is ambitious and required a motivated team. The members of the group will benefit the assistance and participation of European associations and federations, such as:
The material will be issued through questionnaire to be prepared at Odense and interviews to be held with our professional partners as well as with search cabinets and recruitment officers of main companies.
Members will be asked to collect data in their national countries.
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