Department of Civil Engineering

	Department Main Page		Career Development
	General Programme Information		People
	Programme Aims and Objectives		Information for Students
	Programme Structure		Scholarly Activities
	Course Description		Equipment and Facilities

Programme Information

Programme Characteristics

A Broad Spectrum of Knowledge in Civil Engineering

The Complexity of the Civil Engineering Profession
Civil engineering is a profession that applies the basic principles of science in conjunction with mathematical and computational tools to solve problems associated with developing and sustaining a good standard of living in a modern society. Civil engineering is, however, one of the engineering subjects which generally involve projects in different scales and requires close co-operation among many professionals. The completion of a civil engineering project always attributes to both technical understanding of the problem and many non-technical issues. Some common examples of civil engineering works include buildings, bridges, highways, tunnels, and so on. In those projects, civil engineers have to provide adequate and comprehensive measures on many different aspects, such as design aesthetics, structural stability, human safety, environmental pollution, and the ability to withstand natural hazards.

Our Programme in Civil Engineering for the Modern Society
In view of the complexity of the civil engineering profession, our programme is specifically designed to provide a breadth of knowledge in the civil engineering disciplines through a set of required and elective courses. Our programme focuses on several major disciplines including structural engineering, building construction and materials, water resources and environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, transportation engineering, and construction management.

All the basic knowledge and application tools of different disciplines together make civil engineering successful. With these programme characteristics, our graduates will be able to participate in a wide range of activities from advanced simulations of complex structural systems to the management of people and projects.

Strong Emphasis on Structural Engineering
In addition to building a solid civil engineering foundation, the Programme is structured in such a fashion that it allows students to be able to specialize within the curriculum, especially in structural engineering. Structural engineering is the science of applying principles of mechanics to building and structural designs. It is traditionally viewed as one of the major disciplines in civil engineering as structural support elements are required in many engineering works. In fact, our past records indicated that structural engineering was one of the major fields that our graduates were involved.

As structural engineering has become a key component of the design of our society's infrastructure, our Programme aims at maintaining the emphasis on this important discipline. This can be achieved by providing our students with fundamental and advanced courses relating to the background theory and application techniques in structural engineering. Design projects will also be included for students to effectively apply their knowledge in practical cases.

Developing Professionalism in Civil Engineering
With the aim of improving our living standard and quality of life, civil engineers are responsible for designing, constructing, managing and operating complex building and structural systems. However, in order to keep in pace with the fast-changing world, civil engineering students are required to have a sound grasp of engineering background and to master the latest technological tools. In this regard, a strong connection with the industry becomes crucial. To achieve this, this Programme stresses both the theoretical and practical aspects of the civil engineering discipline. Our teaching staff possess high academic qualifications, as well as extensive practical experience in the field of civil engineering. The relevant academic background and practical experience of our staff can be of much benefit to our students, enriching their learning experience and helping them to familiarize themselves with the actual working environment.

Professional Ethics and Responsibility to the Public
As the purposes of civil engineering systems are to support and enhance economic developments and the quality of life, the safety aspects of civil engineering systems are particularly important for the protection of life and property. In view of this, our Programme places great emphasis on professional conduct and ethical behaviour. Our students are educated to possess good conduct, professional ethics, and to realise the responsibilities to the civil engineering profession, their colleagues, employers, clients and to the general public.

Life-long Enhancement
A series of theoretical and practical courses are provided to students in our Programme to help them develop an analytical mind for the in-depth understanding of the physics of the engineering world, thus providing them with a strong basis to advance to a higher level of study and continuous professional developments in civil engineering. For the purpose of all-round development, students are also taught the basic skills required for life-long learning, not only in the civil engineering field, but in other disciplines as well.

Cross-disciplinary Curriculum
Good professionals are those who possess broad-mindedness, confidence, commitment, global vision, creativity and adaptability. Therefore it is important to have our students exposed to a wide range of knowledge, enhancing their ability of comprehending matters from different perspectives. To this end, our cross-disciplinary curriculum includes electives across different disciplines such as general education, humanities and social sciences. We emphasise a balanced development in the domains of ethics, intellect, physique, social skills and aesthetics.

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