Civil engineering education for reconstruction and development

The paper describes an approach in civil engineering education for developing and implementing an undergraduate civil engineering curriculum, which is based on a framework that provides formal mechanisms for continually integrating reconstruction and development issues in the civil engineering discipline. The transformation being considered is in response to the prevailing culture in the practice of civil engineering into which the students in the developing countries will emerge. Changes in the activities of the civil engineer in developing nations are taking place as a result of growing demand for community participation on infrastructure development projects within the reconstruction and development programs. It is therefore imperative that we train a new generation of civil engineers with the skills to effectively play their role on community-based development projects.