GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION AND THE REAL WORLD NEEDS

One of the challenges faced by companies recruiting graduated civil engineers to work in the field of geotechnical engineering is that they do not have enough training to satisfy the needs of the company.
In fact, many subjects in geotechnical engineering such as micropiles, bored piles, diaphragm walls, jet grouting, tunnelling technologies, etc are not covered by educational institution curricula and most companies find that graduated engineers are not ready to work in the field of geotechnical engineering. Furthermore, subjects related to geotechnical engineer work such as tenders preparation, contract forms, work preparation for construction sites, litigation, professional liability and professional obligation are also not well covered by educational institution curricula. So, to compensate for the lack of education in the field of geotechnical engineering, some companies spend a lot of time and money in training of their engineers, but economically speaking this is not a solution and we can not create an educational institution in each company.
In my view, the best solution is to create a Master in the area of geotechnical engineering which satisfies the needs of the real world in this field and produces engineers able to deal with geotechnical problems in a competent and professional manner. Therefore, the training provided by companies should be limited to the company's expertise.

This paper presents suggestions on how the engineering students should be trained in geotechnical engineering to ensure a good transition from educational institution to the real world. Attention has given to the importance of the practical experience for geotechnical engineering educators; the development of engineering judgment; computer test simulation or video to explain the laboratory and field tests; field trips and summer training in industry firms.