For nearly eight years, the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) has been working with practitioners and educators to improve the technical and practical quality of education for structural engineering students. In 1999, a list of proposed courses necessary to appropriately educate structural engineers was published. Within two years, there was practitioner consensus on the course content to be included in a good quality program of structural engineering educational. Within a six year period, practitioners had agreed on course requirements and content and had proposed a mechanism to evaluate the education process. In 2004, educational institutions in the United States responded to a survey intended to determine the courses that were available to students. The survey was published in the July 2004 issue of STRUCTURE® magazine.
The completion of the education and training process, which culminates in the structural engineer being able to become Certified in the Practice of Structural Engineering, requires the collaboration of practitioners and educators. STRUCTURE magazine has been a vehicle for disseminating articles relating to Basic Education, and promoting ongoing discussions.
Through the years, articles in the magazine regarding the processes of educating and training the structural engineer contained various opinions, and often presented opposing points of view. The Education Section of this issue is dedicated to a variety of aspects of the education of the structural engineer, and contains articles authored by both practitioners and educators. The proposed educational program, The Basic Structural Education, and the 2006 survey of educational institutions are included. In addition to the actual courses offered by the school, there are individual school survey responses indicating which courses are included in the undergraduate program, the graduate program, and whether courses are offered as a requirement or an elective.
NCSEA encourages comments and suggestions, which can be forwarded to the Publisher (publisher@STRUCTUREmag.org). Please contribute your thoughts and comments on the important topic of educating and training the Structural Engineer.