Civil-engineering education: Alternative paths

Education in civil and hydraulic engineering has undergone only evolutionar y change in the past half-century. During that time the salary levels of ci vil engineers, including hydraulic engineers, have markedly decreased in co mparison with nonengineering professions and even compared to other enginee ring disciplines. Presently, the mode of engineering education is being cha llenged, with many proposing to increase the educational requirement for pr ofessional engineers. Calls for a 5-year first professional degree in the U nited States have become popular, However, such a change is insufficient an d will not cure the current problems. To promote professionalism and to rem edy other concerns now plaguing civil engineering, two alternative paths ar e proposed for civil engineering education. One path is to broaden professi onal engineering education by offering a 6-year undergraduate program of st udy as an option to the present 4-year undergraduate program. The alternati ve path is to broaden the purpose of graduate engineering study to include practice-oriented programs aimed at producing doctorate-level engineering p rofessionals, rather than engineering academics. Both paths emphasize an in tegrated, broad education, but not at the expense of technical depth. And b oth directly affect the education of hydraulic engineers.