The current state of surveying education within civil engineering programs in the United States

摘要

Surveying engineering traditionally has been closely tied with civil engineering. Decades ago, surveying courses encompassed a significant portion of the civil engineering undergraduate curriculum. However, the current state of surveying education within civil engineering programs in the United States is unclear. To systematically assess the current situation, the course curricula for all 239 accredited bachelor's programs in civil engineering in the United States were compiled and studied. The results of this assessment showed that roughly two-Thirds of the civil engineering programs require their students to take at least one introductory course in surveying, generally during the student's sophomore year. The study also found 25 programs that offer additional, more advanced courses in surveying during the students' junior and senior years. Other pertinent information are presented in this paper, including distributions of the required number of credits current civil engineering students must take in surveying, the total number of required hours students spend in surveying lectures and surveying laboratories (i.e., conducting field exercises), and the identification of which programs offer bachelor's and graduate degrees in civil engineering with an emphasis on surveying.