Overview of geosynthetics teaching in Civil Engineering Undergraduate Programs at public institutions in Brazil

¹ UFRN, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Natal, RN, Brazil
² OSU, Engineering Education Department, Columbus, United States
³ UNSW, School of Chemical Engineering, Sydney, Australia

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

Despite the increasing use of geosynthetics in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, there is a significant lack of information about geosynthetics among a large portion of civil engineers. One reason that might justify this issue is the absence of formal education in undergraduate courses. The objective of this paper is to provide a current overview of geosynthetics teaching in undergraduate Civil Engineering programs at Brazilian public universities. The undergraduate Civil Engineering courses of public universities were listed using governmental online databanks; their curricula were thoroughly reviewed to identify any mention of geosynthetics in compulsory or elective courses; in order to build a databank with data from all these undergraduate courses. From 168 undergraduate Civil Engineering courses listed in this study, 42% provide some mention of geosynthetics, with an uneven distribution across Brazil. Despite it may seem a relevant percentage, only approximately 29% of the courses listed are compulsory in their undergraduate programs. It may emphasize the need of additional geosynthetics education initiatives, such as the Educate the Educators (EtE) program of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS). The dissemination of geosynthetics education in Brazilian Civil Engineering undergraduate programs is essential for the progress of the field, by introducing this technology to future professionals.