A Road Map for Civil Engineers towards Bridge Engineering Through Academic Education and Professional Training

Abstract

It is common in many countries that engineers having an academic degree in Civil Engineering are appointed responsible for different tasks related to Bridge Engineering. However, there are serious questions about whether formal university courses in civil engineering could cover the needs of a bridge engineer to fulfill his or her job successfully. Regarding the recent significant advances in the theory and practice of bridge engineering, the answer is clearly negative. Indeed, there is a huge gap between the knowledge of a typical graduate -having a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering or a Master's degree in structural engineering- and the knowledge expected to be acquired by an engineer involved in various bridge engineering activities. This paper attempts to bridge this gap by introducing a road map through a proposed program of academic education and professional training. The proposed program has been dealt with in some details in the hope of opening a chapter for further scientific discussions and researches, as well as actual implementation, evaluation and improvement. The suggested programs contain a series of lessons defined within a number of modules. Universities across the world are encouraged to present such courses. Industrialized countries can play a paramount role in this process by presenting Master's courses not only for their Native students, but also for students from developing countries. They can also contribute to training courses to be organized by authorities in developing countries.