Civil and Environmental Engineering
Program

In the development of the kinds of civil infrastructure and urban environments covered in this program emphasis is placed on harmony with nature and compatibility with the environment as a whole. Specialists in these areas are expected to possess not only knowledge in the field of engineering but also a broad education including elements such as ethical thinking and social interest.
More specifically, students learn specialist knowledge and skills related to the planning, surveying, design, construction, and operation and maintenance of the civil infrastructure facilities that help us to live in safety and comfort-such as roads and railways, bridges and tunnels, embankments and dams, weirs and flood control channels, ports and airports, water supply and drainage facilities, and parks-and the networks of those facilities, as well as the urban and community development of countries, regions, prefectures, cities, towns, and villages.

Second year
Lectures are given in compulsory subjects related to the major fields of civil and environmental engineering: applied mechanics, civil engineering materials, hydraulics, and geotechnical engineering. These subjects allow students to acquire basic knowledge in specialist fields. Students also learn the basics of design, drafting, and surveying techniques. The Basics of Civil Engineering Design course, one of the subjects distinctive to the program, allows students to learn the basic processes of planning and designing urban development and structures, and to simulate such processes through group work.

Third year
The program also includes laboratory work devised to cover the key fields listed above. Through the laboratory work, students develop a deeper understanding of the academic fields they have studied up until that point, as well as learning measurement techniques, and cultivating the skills to analyze and provide observations on results. The Civil Infrastructure Project Management course, a practical seminar course in planning and design, is also provided to allow students to study the series of stages from the planning to the design, construction, and operation and maintenance of civil infrastructure facilities, and the content of those stages, through lecture and group work-based seminar classes. The program will also incorporate internships which allow students to deepen their understanding of the connections between academic study and practical application, and learn means of tackling more specific issues.

Fourth year
In the fourth year students are assigned to laboratories to engage in research activities. Through their graduation research projects, students are able to acquire the skills to understand and mentally organize specialist problems and devise solutions on the basis of surveys, analysis, and other such approaches. They also cultivate skills such as the ability to correctly express their own ideas to people and understand the opinions of others, and presentation techniques.
In addition to the activities students pursue in their laboratory groups, classes are also given in courses entitled Technical English I/II, and Engineering Ethics. Students acquire skills for communication in international environments, as well as developing into technical experts that consider engineering ethics and pursue key roles in society.

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Program is accredited by the Japan Accreditation Board for Engineering Education (JABEE) as a “JABEE accredited program in civil and environmental engineering.”

(1) Basics of Civil Engineering Design
Basics of Civil Engineering Design is a course held in the first semester of the second year, when students are starting to engage in fully-fledged study of specialist subjects. In groups of around five students, students look at transportation planning and bridge design for central Niigata City. In their respective groups, students engage in activities such as discussing the state of urban transportation and producing models of bridges by referring to various bridges around the world.

(2) Civil Infrastructure Project Management
Students take the Civil Infrastructure Project Management course in the second semester of the third year, by which point they have already studied various specialist subjects. Drawing on the specialist knowledge they have acquired in the course up until then, students thoroughly tackle a series of topics such as the planning of highways, and the design, construction, and operation and maintenance of bridges, with guidance from people with practical work experience in those fields.