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Session 1315

Implementing ASCE’s “Masters” Policy

Stuart G. Walesh Consultant

Abstract

ASCE is committed to implementing its Policy Statement 465, which “supports the concept of the Masters Degree or Equivalent (MOE) as a prerequisite for licensure and the practice of civil engineering at a professional level.” Described in this paper is the manner in which ASCE is working with stakeholders to develop, organize, and execute a detailed implementation process. Curriculum, accreditation, licensing, and specialty certification are the four broad fronts across which implementation is proceeding.

Introduction: A Problem Facing the Civil Engineering Profession

Under the auspices of ASCE, individual civil engineers and civil engineering groups have increasingly reviewed the profession’s status and examined possible improvements. 1 Prominent among these efforts are the six ASCE education conferences convened at approximately five- year intervals from 1960 to 1995. While all the conferences arrived at similar conclusions and recommendations, including advocating more formal education, the last 2 was the catalyst for an ASCE Board of Direction policy change.

In October 1998, the ASCE Board of Direction adopted Policy Statement 465, which began as follows: “The ASCE supports the concept of the masters degree as the First Professional Degree (FPD) for the practice of civil engineering at the professional level.” ASCE is the first of the founder and other engineering societies to officially call for more formal education as a condition of practicing the discipline at the professional level. The current version of Policy 465 is explicitly supported in Building ASCE’s Future – Strategic Plan adopted in 2000 by the Society.

The ASCE Board formed the Task Committee (TC) for the FPD in October 1999 and charged it with “developing a vision of full realization of ASCE Policy Statement 465 …and a strategy for achieving this vision.” The TC concluded that the fundamental issue addressed by Policy Statement 465 was: The current four-year bachelor’s degree is becoming inadequate formal academic preparation for the practice of CE at the professional level in the 21 st Century. The TC explained that the fundamental issue facing the CE profession has many facets and related concerns which are summarized as follows:

“Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Walesh, S. (2002, June), Implementing Asce's "Master's" Policy Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--11123