Introduction Video of Civil Engineering Infrastructure Major
I Introduction of Civil Engineering Infrastructure Major
1、Connotation of Civil Engineering Infrastructure Major
Civil Engineering Infrastructure is a civil engineering major that integrates core modules such as road engineering, bridge engineering, and geotechnical engineering. The study and research objects of this major include highways, bridges, geotechnical engineering construction, and financing and management of domestic and international project.
The major of Civil Engineering Infrastructure is a 4+0 dual-student and dual-degree Sino-foreign cooperative education major jointly created by Chang'an University and the University College Dublin. It comprehensively promotes “The Belt and Road Initiative” and the building of “strong national transportation network ”, aiming to cultivate international talents with solid professional skills, advanced management concepts and excellent bilingual communication capabilities in the field of highway transportation construction.
Chang'an University Civil Engineering Infrastructure major is a dual-degree education program for undergraduates in Sino-foreign cooperative education certified by the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education Approval Number: MOE61IE2A20171888N), which is included in the national general higher education enrollment plan. This major planned to enroll 120 students every year, and have 4 years of schooling. Students are required to take China’s college entrance examination and meet the relevant enrollment regulations and requirements. After enrolling, students will register at the two universities at the same time, and accept bilingual and full English courses implemented by the outstanding teachers of the two universities. Graduates who meet the requirements will be awarded:
• Chang'an University general higher education undergraduate diploma
•Chang’an University Bachelor of Engineering Certificate
•Bachelor Degree of Engineering, University College Dublin
The above degree is exactly the same as the degree of full-time undergraduate graduates of the two universities.
The core curriculums not only include building materials, engineering geology, road survey and design, soil mechanics, geotechnical engineering, highway engineering, traffic engineering, bridge engineering, structural design and analysis and other traditional Civil Engineering Infrastructure necessary courses, but also integrate international funded project courses such as project management and practice, building information management (BIM), engineering construction management (including cost calculation), research communication and skills. Students will share the high-quality teaching resources of Chang'an University and the University College Dublin, so as to achieve study abroad without going abroad”. This major also provides a variety of opportunities for students to study abroad, such as overseas research projects in winter and summer vacations, and internships in international engineering projects. The courses show equal importance in major related knowledge, practical ability and international vision to enhance students' comprehensive ability and employment competitiveness, make them well-rounded.
Characteristic of the Major
【Feature 1】National-level featured majors, cooperated with the world's top universities
The major of Civil Engineering Infrastructure is an international talent cultivation base created by Chang'an University based on traditional superior majors. According to the information from “China Science “and “Education Evaluation”, the major of Civil Engineering Infrastructure of Chang'an University ranks second among 82 universities nationwide that offer this major. Engineering and technology disciplines are the dominant disciplines of the University College Dublin, ranked 171 in the QS World University Rankings. By cooperating with the University College Dublin, CDIC have introduced its high-quality educational and teaching resources, so that students are familiar with international engineering rules and have excellent international business and professional technical capabilities. The complementary advantages of both Chang’an university and University College Dublin can guarantee the realization of the goal of cultivating high-level international talents.
【Feature 2】Well-designed 4+0 joint education mode
This major has chosen the 4+0 dual-student and dual-degree joint cultivating mode for students. The 4+0 joint education mode can not only avoid various problems caused by the disconnection of the knowledge system caused by the Chinese and foreign educational environment, living habits, and cultural differences and the difficulty of adapting to life abroad in the short term, but also save a series of high expenses caused by visas, air tickets, foreign school’s language enhancement, living, accommodation and insurance.
Based on the rich international talent cultivating experience of Chang'an University and the University College Dublin, as well as the research and evaluation of the latest market needs, the two universities have jointly developed a special cultivation plan for students to avoid the problem of only understand English but not have a systematic core knowledge or only understand core curriculum but cannot conduct international communication. The curriculum of this major is mainly composed of English ability reinforcement, basic courses (bilingual teaching), major courses (mainly pure English), and graduation design (thesis) in English.
【Feature 3】Meet the huge demand of the market of the international transportation infrastructure construction
Driven by “The Belt and Road Initiative” and the building of “strong national transportation network ”, China inland’s contracted engineering business has surged, and its business volume accounts for the world's largest. However, at the same time, it is facing increasingly severe international competition. Therefore, a large number of enterprises urgently need comprehensive talents who not only understand technical management, but also familiar with world business language and international rules and conventions. Therefore, CDIC’s majors aim to reform the traditional cultivation mode, practice the concept of international education, and cultivate international talents with solid professional skills, advanced management concepts and excellent bilingual communication skills in the field of highway transportation construction.
【Feature 4】Well-known professors from the University College Dublin and more than 20 PhDs from prestigious overseas universities form a teaching team together
This core curriculums uses bilingual textbooks and original English textbooks that are compatible with domestic and international technical specifications and design standards, and is taught on-site by outstanding teachers strictly selected by Chang'an University and University College Dublin. The teaching conducts in open, practical, and analysis way. English ability reinforcement courses are taught jointly by Chinese teachers and international teachers (speaking & writing) trained by the University College Dublin.
2、Achievements of Civil Engineering Infrastructure Major
The Civil Engineering Infrastructure major of Chang'an University is the core component of the national double first-class building discipline- Transport City Planning and Environmental Policy. It is a national-level featured major and a famous major in Shaanxi Province. It is selected as a first-class major strengthening sequence in Shaanxi Province. The teachers of this major have taken the development of highway transportation technology as their own responsibility for many years, and have actively organized research on major topics and key technologies of highway construction, and strive to build this major into a high-level and world-class major with distinctive characteristics, outstanding advantages.
Civil Engineering Infrastructure major belongs to the traffic and transportation discipline of Chang'an University, which has strong scientific research competence. The discipline has 4 academician workstations, 2 national engineering laboratories, 15 provincial and ministerial key laboratories and engineering research centers, 2 111 disciplines innovation and intelligence introduction bases, 1 international joint laboratory of the Ministry of Education, 3 A base for international scientific and technological cooperation in Shaanxi Province. In addition, Chang'an University also has a series of teaching and research platforms such as a national experimental teaching demonstration center for civil engineering, a road and bridge national off-campus practice education base for college students, as well as many national engineering laboratories, provincial and ministerial key laboratories, and engineering research centers. CDIC have enough hardware and advanced technology to provide a solid guarantee for talent cultivation.
The traffic and transportation discipline of Chang'an University, which is affiliated to the Civil Engineering Infrastructure major, has outstanding social service performance. Relying on this subject, the teachers and many alumni of this major have participated in a series of major engineering construction projects of the century, such as the world’s largest span of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Cross-sea Channel (the world’s most difficult-to-construct), and Qinghai-Tibet Bridge Highways (the world’s highest altitude) , the Zhongnanshan Expressway Tunnel (the longest in Asia), the Shaanxi Provincial Expressway loaned by the World Bank, and the Addis Ababa to Adama Expressway (the largest in East Africa).
Figure 1 The bridge with largest span in the world- Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge
Figure 2 The most difficult construction in the world- Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao channel
Figure 3 The highest altitude in the world- Qinghai-Tibet Highway
Figure 4 the longest total length in Asia –Qinling zhongnanshan highway Tunnel
Founded in 1854, the University College Dublin, is one of the top research universities in Europe. It is the largest and most international university in the country. It is ranked 185 in the 2020 QS World University Rankings. It is ranked top 1% in the world in Times Higher Education magazine. The school is a full-time partner of the European Union’s Socrates program and has established inter-school partnerships with more than 150 universities in Europe.
Road, Bridge and River Crossing Engineering majoring in civil engineering, belongs to the University College Dublin Engineering Technology Discipline, is ranked 171 in the 2020 QS World Discipline Ranking, which is a dominant discipline of the University College Dublin. The Department of Engineering and Architecture focuses on transportation, infrastructure construction, geotechnical, water engineering, etc., and has infrastructure research centers, town model research centers, and geotechnical engineering research centers. It has strong disciplines and it is the largest Engineering department with the most complete disciplines in Ireland. Graduates have always been the most popular talents in Europe, North America and Australia.
Figure 5 Graduation photos of Chang'an University students
Figure 6 UCD degree awarding ceremony
3、Prospects of Civil Engineering Infrastructure Major
Since 2008, under the guidance of the Going Global national strategy, Chinese infrastructure construction companies have accelerated their speed to go abroad, and their foreign contracted engineering business has surged by more than 10 times. In 2019, 69 Chinese companies were on the list of the Top 250 Global International Contractors (ENR250), ranking first in the world in terms of business volume, and their demand for international talents has increased dramatically. The international engineering business of Chinese mainland enterprises has surged, but there is still a big gap between the level of internationalization and the top foreign counterparts. The bottleneck lies in the single knowledge structure of talents and the lack of international communication capabilities, make us difficult to compete internationally.
The cultivation program of this major actively responds to national development needs and integrates the superior educational resources of Chang'an University and the University College Dublin. It aims to cultivate compound international engineering talents, promote Chinese enterprises to go global, acilitate the The Belt and The Road interconnection, and make positive contributions to the construction of the building of “strong national transportation network”.
II Talent Cultivation
1、Education Strength
Competence of Teachers
The teaching of this core curriculums is implemented by the teaching team selected by Chang'an University and the University College Dublin. The international courses are taught by outstanding teachers from CDIC of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin.
Figure 7 UCD Teaching Team
Teachers from University College Dublin regularly come to hold a variety of knowledge contests and cultural and sports activities for students every semester, including the opening ceremony of the University College Dublin, Irish Culture Week, bridge model building contest, Irish language and culture lecture, IELTS lectures, immersive summer camps, and overseas Summer camps for research and studies, series of lectures on entrance education, etc.
Figure 8 UCD’s opening ceremony for freshmen
Figure 9 UCD professors giving lectures
Figure 10 UCD organizing Irish Culture Week for students
Figure 11 immersive English summer camp
The teaching of Chinese core curriculums will be mainly undertaken by more than 20 outstanding teachers with overseas doctorate degrees and rich bilingual teaching experience introduced by Chang'an University who specialize in Civil Engineering Infrastructure. Chinese teachers graduated from National University of Singapore, Colorado State University, Michigan Technological University, University of Florida, University of Alaska, Illinois Institute of Technology, Louisiana State University, Purdue University, Virginia Tech, University of Arizona, Iowa State University , Tokyo Polytechnic University in Japan, the University of Nottingham in the UK, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the University of New South Wales in Australia and other top overseas institutions.
The internatinal courses of this major are taught in English, and the Chinese courses are taught in both Chinese and English except for ideological and political courses and sports courses. The teachers responsible for improving students' English will be strictly interviewed by the University College Dublin and systematically trained at the University College Dublin.
Figure 12 Sources of Teachers of Chang'an Universitya
2、Student awards
The university encourages students majoring in Civil Engineering Infrastructure to actively participate in the National College Student Mathematical Modeling Competition, the Challenge Cup National College Students Extracurricular Academic Technology Competition, Internet + College Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, and the National College Student Transportation Technology Competition , The World College Student Bridge Design Competition, College Student BIM Design Challenge and other series of competitions. Chinese and international teachers provide systematic guidance to students to cultivate students' innovative thinking ability and improve their practice ability in engineering.
Since Civil Engineering Infrastructure started to enroll students in 2018, students of the class of 2018 and 2019 have participated in various competitions organized inside and outside the school. Excellent results have been achieved such as: The International Engineering Mechanics Competition (Asian Region), the Internet + University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, the Creative Works Competition of the Powerful Transportation Country, the Entrepreneurship Challenge Cup, the Transportation Knowledge Competition, and the Five Small Innovation competitions. One student won a national scholarship, 4 students won a corporate scholarship, and 25 students won campus contribution awards, academic excellence awards, curriculum contribution awards and other related awards.
3、Space for further studies
At the beginning of the formulation of the cultivation program for Sino-foreign cooperative education majors, it was considered to meet the cultivation requirements of Chinese universities, and to provide guarantee for students to obtain graduates offers from domestic universities. Sino-foreign cooperative education majors will get the same opportunities for domestic universities as general major students of Chang'an University when they apply for postgraduate studies in their senior year.
Civil Engineering Infrastructure students took IELTS courses in the first and second grades. In the students from the class of 2018, 68% of the students had IELTS scores of 5.5 or above, satisfying the language requirement of undergraduate universities overseas; 30% of students have IELTS scores of 6.0 or above, which meet the language requirements for pre-Masters in overseas institutions; 14% of students have scores of 6.5 or above, which meet the language requirements of overseas universities for masters, and 5 students have IELTS scores of 7.
Through four years of cultivation of language, practical innovation ability, open thinking ability and solid professional foundation, as well as the recommendation letter of a professor in Dublin, student can apply for the world's top scientific research institutions to study for master's and doctoral degrees. At the same time, if students of this major choose to apply to the University College Dublin to continue their studies, they will have the same priority admission advantages as ordinary graduates of the University College Dublin.
III Focus on Employment
1、Employment strength: employment rate, enrollment rate, foreign exchanges
This major started enrollment in 2018, and there are no graduates yet. However, the major of Civil Engineering Infrastructure is built on the basis of more than ten years of exploration of the cultivation mode of Civil Engineering Infrastructure (international engineering class) with overseas superior resources. The cultivation program of the International Engineering Class is an order-based curriculum system that targets the needs of Chinese companies' overseas engineering projects, while the curriculum of the Civil Engineering Infrastructure major focuses on connecting with the world's top universities.
University College Dublin is ranked 78th in the world in the 2020 QS World University Rankings- Graduate Employment Competitiveness Ranking, and graduate employers have a high evaluation. Students of this major will also enjoy the employment advantages shared by the international engineering class of the same major and the University College Dublin. There is a large demand for bilingual talents in the transportation infrastructure construction industry, so CDIC graduate is expected to have a high employment rate, high level of employment, high employment salary, high platform for further studies, and a good employment situation.
2、 Employment characteristics
Under the guidance of the New Engineering, Internationalization and Transportation talent cultivating concepts, graduates of Civil Engineering Infrastructure can work in management agencies, engineering design consulting companies, and engineering design consulting companies in the field of transportation construction in China, they can also be employed by foreign companies to serve the implementation of Chinese foreign-funded loan projects and foreign engineering projects. Graduates can also rely on the advantages of this major to seek further studies in foreign universities and seek more ambitious career development goals.
3、Employment advantage
Students graduating from this major can not only enjoy the status and alumni resources of Chang’an University’s Civil Engineering Infrastructure major, but also benefit from the international reputation of the University College Dublin. Graduates based on the four-year joint cultivation of two universities will have the following core competitiveness:
Solid foundation and core knowledge
Barrier-free language communication skills
Open thinking and judgment
Adaptability to western education
The special bilingual learning background and dual degrees from two prestigious universities are not only the stepping stone for graduates to enter the government or related international enterprises, but also the most convincing “recommendation letter” for scientific research talents to reach top universities domestic and overseas. Graduates will fully demonstrate their strength and competitiveness on four platforms in two major areas of industry and academia.
The world's top research institutions (for master's and doctoral degrees)
International Development and Investment Bank (related work for foreign-funded loan projects)
Domestic transportation construction management department (planning & management work)
Large-scale planning and design, construction enterprises in the field of transportation domestic and overseas (design and management of overseas projects)
