Civil engineering education must evolve to enable the success of the NDP

Part of the National Development Plan’s (NDP’s) success will hinge on South Africa’s ability to strengthen its civil engineering qualifications to provide the necessary skills to implement the plan.

This was according to American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) chair Blaine Leonard at the National Science and Technology Forum’s second proSET President’s Forum, held in Sandton, last month, which centred on the NDP and its implementation.

Leonard explained there would be a para-digm shift in the civil engineering sector by 2025 that would set an aspirational target for a new worldwide state of affairs in the economy, as roles and responsibilities were changing and expectations were expanding.

“Implementing a successful growth path for infrastructure requires that the right education be offered to prospective civil engineers – the engineers of the future that will create our future built environment,” he said.

The ASCE published The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025, in 2007, and Achieving the Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025: A Roadmap for the Profession, in 2009. The first publication is the culmination of eight years of work to redefine what it will be like to be a civil engineer of the future. The second publication provides in-depth reporting on the kind of training civil engineers should receive.

Both publications represent the collective wisdom of more than 60 experts worldwide that have embraced the appeal for a new enhanced role for the profession.

Leonard said civil engineers of the future would be master builders, planners, designers and constructors – they would be stewards of the environment and its resources; innovators and integrators of ideas and technology across the public, private and academic sectors; man-agers of risk and uncertainty caused by natural events, accidents and other threats; and leaders in discussions and decisions shaping the public environment and infrastructure policy.

“It is evident that the exploding body of science and engineering knowledge cannot be accommodated within the context of a traditional four-year baccalaureate degree,” he said.

Successful civil engineers of the future would need a master’s degree and appropriate experi-ence to provide the future with sustainable design, innovative waste treatment systems, intelligent infrastructure and living databases, worldwide construction standards, three-dimensional printing and manufacturing experts, as well as develop decentralised work environments, he said.