AECEF NEWSLETTER 2/2001
The core of Civil Engineering knowledge –
- a prerequisite for the effective exchange of students between European Universities
by Stanis³aw Majewski
Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland,
e-mail: mastan@polsl.gliwice.pl
and
Ryszard Kowalczyk
University of Beira Interior, Covilha, Portugal,
e-mail: rkow@ubistb.ubi.pt
Introduction
The international exchange of students between European Higher Education institutions becomes more and more an accepted practice. It seems that in forthcoming years it will become one of the important requirements for effective education in engineering sciences. No doubt the student’s stay in a different university environment abroad is itself a very instructive and fruitful personal experience for him/her. Nevertheless as academic teachers and engineers we should also reflect on how this stay should be organised to assure the best academic and professional experience.
Already, for several years student exchanges within the Socrates scheme have been conducted between the Civil Engineering Faculties of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland and the University of Beira Interior in Covilha, Portugal. The experience gained during this co-operation has proved that some form of similarity of educational systems, study curricula and programs seems to be necessary, or at least beneficial for better results.
It should be strongly emphasised that we don’t think about any form of unification. The autonomy of the University is of great value and there is no doubt that every university should preserve the individual character of its teaching environment. Yet it is much easier to organise teaching for foreign students and to send our own students abroad, if we roughly know what they are going to learn and how it fits into to the programme carried out at the home university. Therefore we propose some steps, which should be undertaken to facilitate European exchanges. These steps refer to: -
Several years of participation in European educational projects such as Tempus and Socrates and particularly the results of the EUCEET project has provided the basis for these proposals.
Civil Engineering degrees and corresponding qualifications
Two professional degrees: the Bachelor of Science and the Master of Science are recognised all over the world. This is noted in the Bologna Declaration (Joint declaration of the European Ministers of Education convened in Bologna on the 19th of June 1999), which recommends ”Adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degree schemes, also through the implementation of the Diploma Supplement, in order to promote European citizens’ employability and the international competitiveness of the European higher education system”
There is a discrepancy in the length of the teaching periods between universities, particularly for the first degree, which varies from 3,5 year to 5 years. (In Portugal it is just 5 years.) The period of teaching for the second degree is more or less equal, from 2 – 2,5 years. The organisation of studies is slightly different: in many countries for both degrees, diploma work or a diploma project is required; in other countries for the first degree there is a final project, which is not considered as diploma work, but as a subject. For the second, the MSc degree, usually a master’s thesis is prepared and defended.
Civil Engineering has a very wide range of applications therefore studies are usually divided into specialities in the last year of study. This specialisation may be either narrow or broad, depending on this, are the chances of employment. Anyway the graduate should be prepared to plan, design, execute and supervise the civil engineering works taught in the specialisation and have enough background to deepen his studies and preparation for other types of work.
In some countries the accreditation of civil engineering studies by a professional organisation of engineers is recommended. This means that the graduates can use the title of Engineer as well as their BSc and start their professional career without the need for any additional exams and certificates. This accreditation by an independent professional body seems to be a good verification of the teaching programmes of Civil Engineering Departments.
For student exchange lasting at least one semester, it is therefore necessary that the co-operating universities be very well acquainted with the programmes of the partner universities. They can advise the students to choose subjects, which are a real complementation to their studies at the Mother University. We usually cannot count on the subjects taught in other universities covering exactly the same area as in our own university. Our teaching staff should be flexible enough to accept the diversity in programme, without such an approach we cannot create a good basis for student’s exchange.
Study system
The general organisation of educational systems differs significantly, not only globally but also within European. Without going into details the following systems can be identified:
Fig.1. Study systems
Each of these systems can be achieved in the form of pure university teaching as well as with ”sandwich courses”, which include 1 or two semester’s compulsory Industrial Practical Placement. The duration of studies varies from 3-5 years at BSc level and 4-7 years for master courses.
We don’t want to evaluate here particular systems, however it should be stated that the Bologna Declaration explicitly recommends the two-tier one (Adoption of a system essentially based on two main cycles, undergraduate and graduate. Access to the second cycle shall require successful completion of first cycle studies, lasting a minimum of three years. The degree awarded after the first cycle shall also be relevant to the European labour market as an appropriate level of qualification. The second cycle should lead to the master and/or doctorate degree as in many European countries;). This model is more effective, easily reveals better candidates for higher stages of education, thus enabling the raising of teaching levels and it leads to the logical partition of the teaching material between the basic course (BSc) and higher (MSc, PhD) stages. The branched system is very similar to the pure two stages one, however it’s shortcoming is the lack of a professionally directed diploma, which is essentially the difference between the MSc thesis.
There is no doubt that student exchanges are much easier between universities, which have adopted similar educational systems, however it is also possible between those which have different ones. Yet in both cases exact knowledge about study curricula and the content of particular subjects is essential.
Characteristics of currently existing curricula
Working group “A” undertook the detailed analysis of study curricula at undergraduate level within the EUCEET project. A number of parameters were analysed and the results have been presented in the first EUCEET volume entitled ”Inquiries into European Higher Education in Civil Engineering”. In this paper we want to draw attention to the contents of study curricula, firstly the names of subjects taught.
The analysis of curricula sent by 24 universities, from 19 countries revealed the huge diversity of subject names. About 390 subject names can be found in these curricula. Currently used subject names are given in table 1.
Table 1. Subject names currently used in the curricula
| Applied Mathematics |
| Algebra and Geometry |
| Applied Mathematics |
| Calculus |
| Differential Equations (PDE’s) |
| Engineering mathematics |
| Linear Algebra |
| Mathematical analysis |
| Mathematics |
| Probability and Statistics |
| Statistics |
| Applied Informatics & Computational Methods |
| Informatics |
| Applied Informatics |
| CAD |
| Computational Methods in CE |
| Computer Assisted Drawing |
| Computer methods in structural analysis |
| Computer Programming |
| Computer Science |
| Data processing |
| Elements of Informatics |
| Fundamentals of computer science |
| Fundamentals of Informatics |
| Graphics and CAD |
| Informatics |
| Introduction to Computers and Programming |
| Introduction to Programming |
| Programming |
| Data processing |
| Digital Image Processing |
| Strength of Materials |
| Introduction to Strength of Materials |
| Mechanics of materials and fracture mechanics |
| Strength of Materials |
| Structural Analysis |
| Finite Element Method |
| Statics |
| Structural Mechanics |
| Structures |
| Solids and structures |
| Analysis of Framed Structured |
| Computational Methods in Structural Analysis |
| Matrix Analysis of Framed Structured |
| Static of Construction |
| Structural Analysis |
| Structural analysis and design |
| Structural Engineering |
| Structural Mechanics |
| Structural stability |
| Structures |
| Theoretical Methods in Civil Engineering |
| Modelling and Structural Analysis |
| Numerical Methods |
| Numerical Analysis |
| Numerical methods |
| Numerical methods in engineering |
| Numerical Methods in Mathematics |
| Applied Physics |
| Physics |
| Thermodynamics and heat transfer |
| Building Physics |
| Physics of Construction |
| Physics of Structures |
| Applied Chemistry |
| Chemistry |
| General Chemistry |
| Building Chemistry |
| Chemistry of Materials |
| Technology of materials and applied chemistry |
| Water and Wastewater Chemistry |
| Engineering Graphics |
| Constructive geometry |
| Descriptive Geometry |
| Drawing and Composition |
| Engineering Geometry & Drawing |
| Geometry |
| Drawing |
| Engineering Graphics |
| Technical Drawing and Geometry |
| Technical Drawing |
| Mechanics |
| Applied Mechanics |
| Continuum Mechanics |
| Elasticity |
| Mechanics |
| Rational Mechanics |
| Solids Mechanics |
| Theoretical Mechanics |
| Mechanics of solids |
| Civil Engineering Mechanics |
| Theory of Elasticity |
| Structural Dynamics |
| Dynamic and Vibrations |
| Dynamics |
| Dynamics of Structures |
| Dynamic and Seismic Engineering |
| Littoral Dynamics |
| Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering |
| Introduction to Engineering |
| Engineering design |
| Engineering science |
| Introduction to engineering |
| Building Studies |
| Engineering Projects |
| Complex Design |
| Building Materials & Concrete Technology |
| Building Materials |
| Materials |
| Building Materials & Concrete Technology |
| Construction Materials |
| Concrete Laboratory Course |
| Concrete Technology |
| Isolation & Concrete Technology |
| Building Construction |
| Building Construction |
| Building Construction & Building Physics |
| Building Construction Methods |
| Engineering Construction |
| Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Buildings |
| Pathology and Building Conservation |
| Restoration of Monuments and Sites |
| Construction Quality and Economics |
| Quality Control in Construction |
| Building Installations |
| Electrical Engineering |
| Building Services Systems |
| Sanitary Engineering |
| Water Supply and Sewer Systems |
| Water Treatment |
| Building installations |
| Design of Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants |
| Environmental and sanitary engineering |
| Sanitary Systems |
| Surveying |
| Topography |
| Computational Methods - GIS |
| Engineering surveying |
| Geodesy |
| Photogrammetry |
| Surveying |
| Surveying Measurements |
| Geodesy of Structures |
| Geodetical Control of Constructions |
| Geographical Information Systems |
| Photogeometry |
| Topographical Databases |
| Underground Surveying |
| Urban Geographical Systems |
| Applied Hydraulics & Hydrology |
| Applied Hydraulics & Hydrology |
| Fluid Mechanics |
| General Hydraulics |
| Hydraulic engineering |
| Hydraulics |
| Hydraulics and Hydrology |
| Hydrology |
| Hydrology and Water Resources |
| Surface Hydrology |
| Wastewater Treatment |
| Water Engineering |
| Applied Hydraulics |
| Elements of Computational Hydraulics |
| Hydrodynamics |
| Hydrodynamics of Bays and Reservoirs |
| Hydrologic Modelling |
| River Hydraulics |
| Water Resources Planning and Management |
| Hydrogeology |
| Hydrography and Hydroinformatics |
| Planing of Hydraulic Systems |
| Engineering Geology |
| Geology |
| Mineralogy and Geology |
| Engineering Geology |
| Geology for engineers |
| Geoinformatics |
| Geotechnics & Foundation Engineering |
| Soil Mechanics |
| Geotechnical engineering |
| Geotechnics |
| Groundwater |
| Soil mechanics |
| Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering |
| Soil Mechanics and Foundations |
| Introduction to Rock Mechanics |
| Introduction to Soil Dynamics |
| Advanced Soil Mechanics |
| Case Studies in Geotechnics |
| Databases for Geoinformatics |
| Geotechnics & Foundations |
| Foundations |
| Foundation Engineering |
| Topics of Soil Improvement - Reinforcement |
| Fundation of Large Structures |
| Structural design |
| Design of structures |
| Building structures |
| Building structures |
| Fundamentals of structural design |
| Structural design |
| Structural engineering |
| Theory of building structures |
| Design of building construction |
| Design of buildings |
| Design of structures |
| Theory of bridges and other structures |
| RC bridges and other structures |
| Project design |
| Residential building design |
| Analysis and design of special structures |
| Building in seismic zone |
| Computer earthquake resistant design |
| Experimental methods and models for structural engineering |
| Industrial building construction |
| Protection against mining subsidence |
| Special structures |
| Special structures and foundations |
| Advanced design in building construction |
| Construction of large structures |
| Design of municipal buildings |
| Design of residential buildings |
| Hydrotechnic Structures |
| Water Structures |
| Harbour Works |
| Hydraulic Structures |
| Hydraulics Constructions |
| Maritime Engineering |
| River catchments management |
| Hydropower Construction |
| River Control |
| Urban Planning |
| City Planning |
| Regional and Urban Planning |
| Urban Planning |
| City Planning |
| Computers in Urban and Regional Planning |
| Regional Planning |
| Urban |
| Urban and Regional Planning |
| Urban Planning and Design |
| Analysis of urban and environmental systems |
| Land use planning |
| Urban and environmental engineering |
| Urban management |
| Introduction to Architecture |
| Architecture |
| Architecture technique |
| Architecture and Urban Planning |
| Development of Architecture |
| History of Architecture |
| Concrete Structures |
| Concrete Structures |
| Design of Reinforced Concrete Linear Elements |
| Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures |
| Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Structures |
| RC and Timber Structures |
| Reinforced Concrete |
| Reinforced Concrete Structures. |
| Precast concrete structures |
| Prestressed Concrete |
| Reinforced and prestressed concrete structure |
| Concrete Building Structures |
| Steel Structures |
| Design of Steel Structural Components |
| Steel Structures |
| Theory and design of steel structures |
| Steel Laboratory Course |
| Steel Building Structures |
| Steel Technology |
| Timber Structures |
| Timber Structures |
| Masonry Structures |
| Masonry Structures |
| Structural Masonry |
| Composite Structures |
| Composite Steel and Concrete Structures |
| Metallic and composite Structures |
| Underground Structures |
| Underground Structures |
| Theory of Underground Structures |
| Underground Concrete Structures |
| Bridges |
| Bridge Construction |
| Bridge Structures |
| Bridges |
| Advanced Steel Bridges |
| Environmental Engineering |
| Civil Engineering and Environment |
| Environmental Protection |
| Environmental engineering |
| Air Pollution |
| Environmental Hydraulics |
| Environmental Impacts |
| Water Quality and Pollution Control |
| Applied ecology for engineers |
| Ecology |
| Environmental impact assessment |
| Environment and Remote Sensing |
| Environmental Geology |
| Environmental Impacts |
| Environmental Protection of Urban Area |
| Pollution Control of Urban Areas |
| Soil- and Groundwater Protection |
| Waist Disposals |
| Construction Technology & Organisation |
| Building Technology |
| Construction Site |
| Construction technology |
| Methods of Construction |
| Technology of Construction |
| Construction and Planning Methods |
| Technology of Construction |
| Building Technology & Cost Calculation |
| Building Technology & Organisation |
| Organisation of Assembly of Structures |
| Economics and Management |
| Economics |
| Management and Decision Analysis |
| Construction Management |
| Construction Organisation and Management |
| Principles of Construction Management |
| Business Administration |
| Construction Economics and Management |
| Economics and Management |
| Management for engineers |
| Management in Civil Engineering |
| Advanced management in CE |
| Methods for Decision Making |
| Urban Management |
| Water Quality Management |
| Water resources Management |
| Engineering Economics |
| Non-Technical Science |
| Building History |
| Engineering Law |
| European Economy |
| Planning and Building Law |
| Public and Private Law for Civil Engineering |
| Communication |
| Economics in CE |
| European Studies |
| Foreign Language |
| Foreign Language and Technical Terminology |
| Humanity courses |
| Introduction of Social Sciences |
| Language |
| Law for Engineers |
| Social Sciences |
| Sociology |
| Public Administration |
| Transportation Engineering |
| Construction of roads, railways and airports |
| Traffic Design of Public Roads |
| Traffic Engineering |
| Traffics |
| Transport Engineering |
| Transport Infrastructures |
| Transportation ways |
| Transportation and highways engineering |
| Airports and Air Transport Systems |
| Transportation Engineering |
| Transportation Planning |
| Transports and Urban |
| Transports |
| Highway facilities management and maintenance |
| Transport infrastructures modelling and design |
| Earth Works of Traffic Constructions |
| Intelligent Traffic Systems |
| Urban Traffic |
| Road Engineering |
| Highway Engineering |
| Highways |
| Road Communications |
| Road Traffic Management |
| Roads & Motorways |
| Advanced Design of Road Constructions |
| Design of Roads |
| Pavement Design |
| Railways |
| Railway Construction |
| Railways |
| Design of Railways |
| High Speed Railway Constructions |
| Final Project |
| Diploma Thesis |
| Diploma Work |
| Final Project |
| Final Project Seminar |
Proposed subject names
Huge number of subject names handicaps the students’ exchange. We hardly know what is the difference between Rational Mechanics (does the irrational mechanics exist?), Continuum Mechanics, Solid Mechanics, or simply Mechanics. We are not sure what comprises the subject called ”Structures” (we know it is Structural Analysis). It’ll be much more intelligible if the number of subjects is reduced. In table, subjects are grouped and each group has its general name. These can be used as the recommended set of subjects in study curricula. The proposed set of general subject names is presented in table 2.
Table 2. General subject names.
| Applied Mathematics |
| Numerical Methods |
| Applied Chemistry |
| Applied Physics |
| Applied Informatics & Computational Methods |
| Engineering Graphics |
| Mechanics |
| Strength of Materials |
| Structural Analysis |
| Structural Dynamics |
| Applied Hydraulics & Hydrology |
| Engineering Geology |
| Geotechnics & Foundation Engineering |
| Building Materials & Concrete Technology |
| Building Construction |
| Building installations |
| Surveying |
| Non-technical Science |
| Introduction to Engineering |
| Structural design |
| Concrete Structures |
| Timber Structures |
| Steel Structures |
| Masonry Structures |
| Underground Structures |
| Hydrotechnic Structures |
| Bridges |
| Composite Structures |
| Urban Planning |
| Introduction to Architecture |
| Environmental Engineering |
| Construction Technology & Organisation |
| Economics and Management |
| Road Engineering |
| Transportation Engineering |
| Railways |
| Supervised Industrial Placement |
| Final Project |
The total number of subjects is reduced to 38. The general subject names should be used only for this part of knowledge, which every graduate of Civil Engineering at the BSc level must know. In some cases the partition of courses connoted by numbers 1,2 etc. can be introduced. This refers for example to such subjects as ”Concrete structures”, in which ”Concrete structures 1” determines the basic rules of dimensioning and ”Concrete structures 2” deals with designing of simple structural elements. If the material taught exceeds the basic part of knowledge, which should be familiar for each Civil Engineer the adjective ”advanced”, ”special” or ”supplementary” should be added. This also concerns MSc courses as well as optional and specialist courses (e.g. Advanced Concrete Structures only for students of a Structural Engineering speciality).
The proposed set of subject names supplemented by the above rules enables quite precise determination of the material scope. More detailed information about the subject contents should be given in the programme.
Proposal of a Core Curriculum for Civil Engineering
In table 3 a proposal of a core curriculum for Civil Engineering BSc course is suggested. This should be treated as a first draft of such curriculum and the basis for broad discussion.
Table 3.Draft of Core Curriculum for Civil Engineering
| Year | Core subjects |
|---|---|
| First | Applied Mathematics |
| Applied Physics | |
| Applied Chemistry | |
| Applied Informatics & Computational Methods | |
| Engineering Graphics | |
| Mechanics | |
| Strength of Materials | |
| Building Materials & Concrete Technology | |
| Second | Applied Hydraulics |
| Building Construction | |
| Building Installations | |
| Surveying | |
| Geotechnics and Foundation | |
| Structural Analysis 1 & 2 | |
| Structural Design 1 | |
| Concrete Structures 1 & 2 | |
| Steel Structures 1 & 2 | |
| Construction Technology and Organisation 1 | |
| Third | Structural Design 2 |
| Concrete Structures 2 cnt’d | |
| Steel Structures 2 cnt’d | |
| Construction Technology and Organisation 2 | |
| Economy and Management | |
| Transportation Engineering | |
| Urban Planning | |
| Introduction to Architecture | |
| Fourth | Industrial Placement |
| Non-technical Sciences | |
| Final Project |
As it is an initial proposal we don’t try to impute any numbers of teaching hours or credit points to the proposed subjects just claiming that these subjects should be present in the curriculum of each Civil Engineering course. According to the rules proposed above (section 5) all these subjects comprise just the basic part of knowledge, which is necessary for each Civil Engineer of whichever speciality. Obviously some extensions for each speciality as well as some individual features for particular university are not only admissible but in many cases also necessary. In the 4th year of studies we have introduced a Supervised Industrial Placement. In our opinion it should last full semester. The experience gained at some courses at the Civil Engineering Faculty of the Silesian University of Technology as well as the experience of many countries proved that it is extremely beneficial for students’ education. Sometimes it is not easy to organise such practical placement, as it requires the co-operation of the construction industry.
Conclusion
To summarise the paper, let us claim that we are sure that something what can be called ”Core of Civil Engineering curricula and programmes” is an essential prerequisite for effective student exchanges between European universities. Based on this conviction a proposal of the unified subject names as well as a draft of a core curriculum for a Civil Engineering BSc course has been presented, just to initiate the broad discussion on this problem. We invite everybody to contribute to such a discussion. Please send opinions and proposals to our e-mail addresses. We believe that the EUCEET network can be a suitable forum to discuss and solve the problem.
References
Manoliu I., Bugnariu T. (editors): Inquiries into European Higher Education in Civil Engineering. First EUCEET Volume. Bucurest, Romania 2001.
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