Interdisciplinary approach to education in the area of road construction

The paper describes an interdisciplinary approach to education of the students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Osijek in the area of road. This approach to education of students has been designed with a view to implementing the requirements and changes in higher education in the last couple of years, together with other modern accomplishments in teaching at the university level in education of civil engineers. This approach integrates designing and organizational aspects of the road construction process from the group of obligatory courses of the III year of the university undergraduate civil engineering study: Roads and Construction Management I. In the Roads course the students are taught designing of roads and they prepare a road design which includes the layout, longitudinal section, characteristic and normal road cross-sections. In the Construction Management I course the students continue working on the road designs and prepare calculation of quantities, price calculations, cost estimate, and construction works schedule. Such mode of work enables to students to have a more complete insight into the complexity of the road construction process and monitoring of that process in all phases: from designing of horizontal and vertical road elements, defining the cross-sections up to the calculation of quantities, price calculations and preparation of cost estimate. For purposes of the revision of the study program, the paper further presents defined learning outcomes for the Roads course. Learning outcomes are described through competencies that the students will acquire after the completion of the course. The defined learning outcomes and acquired students’ competencies are compared with the results of the opinion poll of employers whose objective was to identify to what extent the competencies acquired in the course of the study are consistent with the expectations and demand of employers.