AECEF NEWSLETTER 2/1999

The Sixth AECEF Board Meeting

by Prof.Josef Macháček
Czech Technical University in Prague
AECEF Board member

The AECEF Board met at its regular sixth meeting at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Torino (Italy) on July 3, 1999. Preparations of the Third AECEF International Symposium (CELTic) and the Third AECEF General Assembly (Cardiff, September 1999) were main goals of the Meeting; however, future activities of the Association, European Civil Engineering Education and Training Project (EUCEET) and other items were also discussed.

Prof. Jiří Witzany, President, (Czech Technical University in Prague), Prof.B.I.G.Barr, (Cardiff University, UK), Prof.Manfred Federau, (The Engineering College of Odense, Denmark), Prof.José Manuel Ferreira Lemos, (University of Porto, Portugal), Prof.Josef Macháček, (Czech Technical University in Prague), Prof.K.S.Virdi, (City University, London, UK) were present at the meeting. Professor Rodolfo Zich, Rector of the Polytechnic di Torino made AECEF Board members welcome.

The AECEF Board accepted report of Secretary-General. The Board members appreciated information about new members and activities of AECEF in the last period. The Board approved the audit of the AECEF receipts and expenditures for the year 1998. Discussion about members that had not settled their membership duties for several years concluded with recommendation that deadline would be set for remittance of their arrears. In the case that arrears are not settle the membership at the Association will be cancelled.

Professor Barr reported about preparations of the Third AECEF the Symposium (CELTic). Thirty six papers were accepted (4 rejected) for the CELTic; there were submitted by authors from 13 countries by the date. The programme of the Symposium also includes an excursion to Cardiff Bay what is the largest investment and engineering project currently taking place in the UK and it is just before finishing. The CELTic organisers (Dr.L. Moore and Dr.R.Lloyd) have confirmed the problem-free state of preparations.

The Board approved “The draft of the agenda of the Third AECEF General Assembly”. With respect to the request of Prof.I. Manoliu, Secretary-General of the EUCEET Project, the Agenda will also include an information about development of the EUCEET project. This report will be presented by Prof. Manoliu. Discussion about the report of the Secretary–General was concluded with recommendation that neither amendments to the AECEF Statues nor increase of the AECEF annual membership fee will be proposed to the General Assembly for the next period. It was recommended that for future AECEF events a part of gains would be used for further development of the Association. The AECEF Board members present at the meeting agreed with their nomination for elections of the AECEF Board for the next term. The Board members would prepare proposals for the topic and the host university for the 4^th AECEF Symposium, what will be a subject of discussion at the General Assembly in Cardiff. Professor Virdi proposed that a topic ”Should the graduates be able to design immediately after their graduation or should they obtain mainly theoretical background?” and Professor Federau recommended that “a mutual recognition” should also be considered.

The majority of Board members and their Universities take part at the EUCEET project. Professor Lemos, Chairman of the Working Group B, summarised the Project goals and up-to-date results. It was emphasised that the Project was still open for all AECEF members to take part in. The AECEF would fully support the EUCEET Project in future.

The Board members also discussed the publication activities of the AECEF (AECEF Newsletter) and updating of the AECEF home page that would be maintained at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, CTU Prague.

President Professor Witzany informed that the AECEF delegation (Professor J.Witzany and Professor J.Macháček) will visit Faculty of Engineering of University of Florence with the aim to start closer contacts with Italian Universities.

During the visit the AECEF delegation was entertained by Professor Franco Angotti, a professor of theory of elasticity and strength of materials of University of Florence and President of Chamber of Engineers of Florence Region. Professor Paolo Spinelli (Chairman of the Degree Program Committee in Civil Engineering), Professor Ennio Paris (Chairman of the Degree Program Committee in Environmental Engineering) and Professor Claudio Borri (Rector’s Delegate for the Socrates Programme) were also present at the meeting. Representatives of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Florence expressed interest of the Faculty in the AECEF goals and activities and would consider its membership at the AECEF. The AECEF delegation had also the opportunity to visit laboratories and other Faculty facilities.

Lunch time at Florence University
(from left to right Prof. Macháček, Prof. Witzany, Prof. Angotti,
Prof. Spinelli, Prof. Paris, Prof. Borri)

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