Nature provides us with plenty of resources. At the same time nature has its hostile behavior. Human beings need to tame this nature to support development activities and utilize the natural resources properly. Throughout the history of modern civilization, Civil Engineers have been doing this work and have always been at the forefront of the drive for the improvement of our standard of living. In every modern society, Civil Engineers always play the key roles in the planning, design and construction of the infrastructure that improve the modern life. From the buildings that we live in to the offices and industries we work in, the roads and bridges that we travel on, the skyscrapers that symbolize cities and define the skylines to the towers that provide electricity, the dams that protect populations to the dams that generate power, Civil Engineers have always been the essential torch bearers of human civilization. From flood mitigation to riverbank protection, design against earthquake to protection for cyclones, planning for traffic control to environmental pollution control, they strive to mitigate human sufferings on a huge range of problems.

Civil Engineering from Bangladesh’s Point of View

Like any other developing country, Bangladesh needs a lot of work to be done to build its infrastructure. Many government and non-government development projects have been implemented since the independence of the country. For the last 35 years, these projects have involved and are still involving a huge number of Civil Engineers. Still a lot of development work has to be accomplished to build the infrastructure in the years to come. Once the infrastructure is built, constant maintenance of the system at a standard level is also a big task. These development activities are impossible to undertake without the direct involvement of Civil Engineers. So, there is a very good opportunity for the Civil Engineers, especially in Bangladesh, to participate in these development projects and hence build to their careers. Be it real estate development or construction and maintenance of telecommunication towers, water quality improvement or noise pollution control, flood control or river training, precipitation prediction or traffic planning, tunnel excavation or road construction, seismic retrofitting or repair of structural damage, there is hardly any aspect of infrastructural development in Bangladesh that is possible without Civil Engineerss

Civil Engineering at UAP

The department of CE at UAP started its journey in the Fall 1997 semester. At the moment, the department offers a 4-year undergraduate program in Civil Engineering. As per academic calendar, the first batch of students graduated in Spring 2001. Since then up to Spring 2017, thirty-three batches have graduated on schedule, one in each semester. The course outline covers all the fields within the Civil Engineering discipline and it eventually leads the students to decide their field of choice for specialization. The program starts with foundation courses in basic sciences, mathematics, humanities, social sciences and management with basic courses in Civil Engineering. Subsequently, specialization takes place in the fields of Structural Engineering, Environmental Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Transportation Engineering and Water Resources Engineering. These include studies on the properties of building materials, soil properties, irrigation and flood control, seismic analysis and design, waste management, environmental impact assessment, traffic management and safety studies, to name only a few. Construction management, another specialization considered, will take interdisciplinary approach between engineering and management aspect. The curriculum is designed to give the students a strong theoretical background coordinated with laboratory experiences, projects and practical work which will provide them necessary impetus to work in their fields of specialization with expertise and ease.

A Commitment to Excellence

Ever since its inception, University of Asia Pacific has dedicated itself to providing quality education, encouraging each academic department, faculty, staff and student to a strong commitment to excellence. The quality of education it offers is primarily dependent on the quality of its faculty members and the students. But for technical education, especially for Civil Engineering, two other factors greatly influence the quality; i.e., laboratory facilities and professional training or internship. In a standard Civil Engineering curriculum there are numerous theoretical and practical courses directly dependent on modern and sophisticated laboratory equipment. So laboratories rich in necessary equipment play a key role for the improved learning of the students of the department. In the CE department of UAP, the courses dependent on laboratories start from the very first semester and continue up to the graduation. The department provides full-fledged in-house laboratory facilities for its students. In fact this is the first and so far the only private university in Bangladesh with such complete laboratory facilities for the Department of CE. Internship or attachment of the student with an industry before s/he graduates helps her/him to grow in confidence to work in real life situations. The internship also opens the opportunity for a student to show her/his potential which may enhance the professional career. It is considered as one of the most important and integral parts for technical education in many reputed universities all over the world.

The CE department of UAP provides internship for its final year students, who are being attached to various firms and organizations to work in practical fields. They get the opportunity to apply their skills and theoretical knowledge in real life situations. Thus, the Department of CE has put concerted effort to comply with UAP’s mission of providing quality education and uphold its commitment to excellence, demonstrating it through its academic environment and the quality of its academic services. It has always tried to provide complete Civil Engineering education with class lectures, laboratory demonstrations, quality research work and professional internship. The faculty and students of this department are already making their mark in various capacities at home and abroad. In 2007, the department itself has become the first Civil Engineering program to be accredited by the Board of Accreditation of Engineering and Technical Education (BAETE) and its alumni have been admitted in the postgraduate program, the country’s premier engineering university, and in reputed universities in Europe & North America. In 2018, external peer review team of UGC's Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) gave the department an overall judgement "Very Good" based on the academic quality aspects. The department and its well-wishers expect these achievements to grow in the years to come. As a further step to encourage higher education and quality research within the department and meet demands in the job market, the department launched its postgraduate (Masters) program in 2009. To face the challenge of the twenty first century, the department promises to give its utmost effort. It is committed to continue and improve upon the sincere service, innovative ideas and determined effort to produce quality Civil Engineers whose scholarly achievements and strong leadership will make it an institution the nation can be proud of.

Contact Information

Department of Civil Engineering
University of Asia Pacific
Level-6, 74/A, Green Road, Farmgate,
Dhaka-1215, Bangladesh
PABX:+8802-58157091-4,6 FAX:+8802-58157097
E-Mail: headce@uap-bd.edu