PRESENT AND FUTURE ROLE OF MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT TRAINING IN CIVIL ENGINEERING HIGHER EDUCATION

Undergraduate (B.S. degree) civil engineers provide the majority of the professionals entering highway maintenance engineering. The continued decline in planning, design, and construction as functional activities in state departments of transportation and the proportional growth in maintenance and operations activity suggest that it is time to examine the degree to which undergraduate civil engineering education is preparing young people for highway maintenance engineering careers. A survey of the 20 largest education programs indicates little overall educational strength suitable for highway maintenance careers. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology criteria were found to be both a hindrance--emphasizing traditional science, the planning-design-construction process, and general education--and a help in providing a mechanism by which TRB and AASHTO can become active in instituting change.