CIVIL ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA AND THE UNIVERSITY OF JUBA, SOUTHERN SUDAN

摘要

Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that encompasses design, construction and maintenance of infrastructure. It is the oldest engineering disciplines after military engineering. Unlike the other disciplines, it is both an art and science that could be traced back to the early civilization (4000 to 2000 BC) in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. And it is a science that makes man and nature live in harmony. It has moved through a number of technological interfaces to reach its current stage. To maintain its integrity, it is imperative that the curricula be regularly revised to meet the ever-demanding economical, social and environmental needs of the society. In most universities, civil engineering under graduate program is four years. University of Juba has five years undergraduate program. The College of Engineering at the University of Florida has 11 academic departments while the College of Engineering at the University of Juba has 5 different departments. These two institutions have different undergraduate requirements both in terms of credit hours and number of semesters. The curriculum leading to the Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering degree at the University of Florida consists of 131 credit hours, while University of Juba consists of 211 credit hours. The University of Florida allows 52 general education credits while University of Juba provides 133. In terms of core civil engineering credits, the University of Florida requires 79 engineering-based credits, while University of Juba requires a minimum of 78 engineering-based credits. The objective of this paper is to compare the current undergraduate civil engineering curriculum in these two institutions. The results of this study present that the civil engineering curriculum meets the educational requirements of both institutions, however, admission requirements, student grading systems and types of courses are different for both.