engineering in Slovenia: education and professional practice JANKO LOGAR, Civil Engineer, Assistant Professor, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, Jamova 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia, janko.logar@fgg.unili.si BOJAN MAJES, Civil Engineer, Associate Professor, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, Jamova 2, Ljubljana, Slovenia, bojan.majes @fgg.unilj.si STANISLAV SKRABL, Civil Engineer, Associate Professor, University of Maribor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Smetanova 17, Maribor, Slovenia, stanislav.skrabl@unimb.si ABSTRACT: The paper presents the current state of university education system in Slovenia "with emphasis on geotechnical engineering education. The list of courses in geotechnical engineering from three institutions offering geotechnical engineering education is also included. Bologna declaration has not been implemented yet, but the curricula are currently being prepared and an example of such curriculum is given. Finally, a short notice on the geotechnical professional practice in Slovenia is added. 1 GENERAL FACTS ABOUT SLOVENIA Slovenia is very centrally located in Europe at the northernmost part of the Adriatic Sea between Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. It covers the area of 20.256 km 2 and has the population of 2 million. The capital city is Ljubljana with 270.000 inhabitants. 90% of population are Slovenians and predominant religion is Catholic. The Republic of Slovenia gained its political independece in 1991. However, with regard to its education system it was autonomous even within former Yugoslavia, since the official language has always been Slovene, and it is signifficantly different from other languages used in former Yugoslavia. The gross national product in 200 was 13100 EUR. 1.6% of the GNP is spent on research and development. Figure 1: Geographical position of Slovenia 19 1
2 EDUCATION SYSTEM AND UNIVERSITIES IN SLOVENIA The education system changed after Slovenia gained its independence. The primary school lasts for 9 years and children start school at the age of 6. The secondary school takes further years. There are two different types of undergraduate education for engineers: University studies (8 to 9 semesters + semester for graduation thesis) Professional higher education studies (6 semesters + 1 semester for graduation thesis) The graduates from the university study are awarded the title of University Graduate Engineer and the graduates from the professional higher education studies are awarded the title of Higher Educat1on Engineer. Only the graduates f~om the university studies are allowed to contmue the1r studies at postgraduate level. There are currently three universities in Slovenia but new centres of undergraduate and postgraduate education have been emerging throughout the country. This will eventually lead to the formation of n~w universities in the years to follow. The hrst university was established in Ljubljana in 1918, the second in Maribor in 19 and the third in Koper in 2003. 3 GEOTECHNICAL EDUCATION IN SLOVENIA The geotechnical engineering is taught at the following institutions: University of Ljubljana at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering University of Ljubljana at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Department of Mining and Geotechnology University of Maribor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering Engineering geologists are strongly involved in geotechnical engineering in Slovenia. The study of engineering geology 1s a specialisation within the degree in geology. The only faculty teaching geology in Slovenia is: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Department of Geology The Bologna process has not been implemented so far in the current curricula. Therefore all data in this section are connected with prebologna types of studies. Short information on the Bologna process is given later on in the paper. 3.1 Undergraduate courses on geotechnical engineering For the present Slovenia does not have a specific study of geotechnical engineering. On both civil engineering departments the study of geotechnical engineering is oriented towards the design of foundations, earthworks, transportation facilities (e.g. roads, railways, pavements), retaining structures, soil improvement techniques. all theese based on basic geology, basic soil and rock mechanics, laboratory and in situ test methods and computational geotechnics.. However, specialisation in geotechmcal engineering is possible at both university studies of civil engineering in Ljubljana and Maribor through a selection of geotechnical courses in the '" year. The selection of the topic and advisor for the graduation thesis is another possibility for specializing in geotechnical engineering... The education programme of mmmg and geotechnology department at the University_ of Ljubljana is more oriented towards the de~1gn of underground excavations and part1ally covers geoenvironmental topics. Also this department allows for specialization by selecting courses in the last year of the study. The specialization can be towards mining engineering or towards geotechnology. Yearly numbers of graduated students for the 5 year period 2000200 in individual studies are given in Table 1. Table 1 shows that 10% of graduates from Civil engineering, Mining, Geotechnology and Geology finish their studies as specialists in geotechnical engineering..... courses for 1nd1v1dual stud1es are listed in Tables 2 to. 192
0 0 Table 1: Number o Qraduates per year 1n t h e peno d 2000 200 University Department Type of study Gradual Graduated in es per geot. engng. year per year Ljubljana Civil enqineerinq University.2 3. Ljubljana Civil engineering Professional high education 33.8 3. Liubljana MininQ and QeotechnoloQy University 2.6 2.6 Ljubljana Mining and geotechnology Professional high education 0.6 0.6 Maribor Civil engineering University 3.8 2. Maribor Civil e nqineering Professional high education 76..6 Ljubljana Geology University 8.0 3.2 TOTAL Professional high education 11 0 8.6 TOTAL University 90 11.6 TOTAL 200 20 T a bl e 2 U n1vers1ty. stu d ly o f c lvi 1 engmeenng University of Ljubljana University of Maribor Faculty_ of Civil Engineering Faculty of Civil Engineerin Lecture Exercise ECTS Lecture Exercise ECTS hours hours hours hours Geology'' 15 3 GeoloQy 11,3 Soil Mechanics'' 7 Soil mechanics 1) 7,5 Earthworks 11 Earthworks and,5 foundations 11 6,2 Foundations 1 1 > 5,5 engineering 1 2 > 6,1 Foundations 11 2 > 15 3,5 engineering 11 21 6,1 Geotechnics of transportation structures 2 >,0 8,0 engineering 2 >,, Obligatory course for all students. 21 Selective course based on the specialisation in the last year T a bl e 3 H' 191 h pro ess1ona 1 s t u d ly o f c 1v1 1 engmeenng University of Ljubljana University of Maribor Faculty of Civil En ineering Faculty of Civil Eng in eeri n ~ Lecture Exercise ECTP Lecture Exercise ECTP hours hours hours hours Soil Mechanics & Soil Mechanics Foundation 11,5 & Foundation 9,6 Engineering 1 > Engineering 11 Engineering,5 structures 1 > geolog~ 1 > 0 15, Geotechnics of transportation 5,0 structures 2 >,5 Obligatory course for all students. structures,, 21 Earthworks 21,8 21 Selective course based on the specialisation in the last year 193
Table : University and high professional study of Geotechnology and mining at University of L. JU bl" 'l]ana, F acu I ty of Natural sciences and enqineerinq University study Hiqh professional study Lecture Exercise ECTP Lecture Exercise ECTP hours hours hours hours Geomechanics 11 Technical 10 qeoloqy I" 7 Geomechanics '' 0 7 engineering I'' 11 Large Introduction to underground 35 8 mining and 15 spaces" ~technoloqv '' Geophysics'' Applied 65 9 15 3 qeophysics 21 0 7 enqineerinq 11 1 enaineering 2 8 Technical Construction of geologl' 0 7 underground 7 spaces 21 1 ' Obligatory course for all students. 21 Selective course based on the specialisation in the last year. 3.2 Postgraduate courses on geotechnical engineering Generally the postgraduate study comprises a number of common theoretical courses and other specialized courses, e.g. in the field of engineering. As a rule, at least one course shall be selected from another field of specialization (e.g. Structures, Information technology,... ). The study is completed by MSc or PhD thesis. All the above mentioned institutions offer also the postgraduate courses in engineering. In Slovenia almost all postgraduate students have regular jobs. The majority of them gets the position of young researchers at the universities or institutes, which means that they get the scholarship and monthly salary from the government to do their research work and complete their studies. Normally these grants are awarded for 2.5 years to obtain the MSc degree and.5 years for the PhD degree. Due to relatively low number of students per year the specialized geotechnical courses are generally organized individually. Since the majority of geotechnical engineering students also work in the field of geotechnical engineering, they benefit simultaneously the theoretical knowledge and engineering skills. courses offered by individual Faculties are listed in Table 5 below. T a bl e 5 L. 1st o postgraduate courses on geotechnical engineerinq University of Ljubljana University of Maribor University of Ljubljana Department of Civil engineering Department of Civil Department of Mining and enqineerinq Geotechnoloov Course name Course name Course name Rheology in soil mechanics Mechanics of earth engineering structures General consolidation theories Rheological relationships for Waste disposal sites soils Slope stability and earth Stability of geotechnical Information technology in pressures constructions oeotechnical enaineerinq Selected topics in geotechnics Soil structure interaction Rock mechanics Groundwater flow Advanced foundation engineering 19
HARMONISATION WITH BOLOGNA DECLARATION The preparation of education programmes in accordance with the Bologna declaration is currently in progress at all the above mentioned institutions. At the moment it is too early to make any statements on future curricula. However, all Faculties involved in geotechnical engineering education intend to propose specialized education programmes in the field of engineering. Current proposal for the engineering program at the University of Maribor is shown below in Tables 6 and 7 together with EUCET recomendations. T a bl e 6 C ompanson o core su >Jects as propose db >y EUCET an d U mvers1ty o f M an.b or Credits Contact hours 6( +2j_ semesters 6(+21_ semesters Core subjects in curricula for Civil engineering EUCET EUCET UNIMB UNIMB Min. Max. Min. Max. Mathematics and Applied Mathematics 13.0 19.0 18 135 225 210 AppJied Chemistry 2.5 3.5 0 0 Applied Physics.5 6.5 11 135 Computer Science and Computational Methods in C. E. 5.5 7.5 7 90 Drawing and Descriptive Geometry Mechanics Mechanics of Materials Structural Mechanics Fluid Mechanics & Hydraulics Engineering Surveying Building Materials Buildings Basis of Structural Design Engineering Geology Soil Mechanics and Engineering Structural Concrete Steel Structures Timber, Mason_ry_ and Composite Structures Transportation Infrastructure Urban and Regional Infrastructure Water Structures and Water Management Construction Technology & Organisation Economics and Management Environmental Engineering Nontechnical subjects 3.5.5.5 5.5 6.5 8.5 7.0 10.0.5 6.5.0 6.0.5 6.5 3.5.5 3.5 5.5 3.0.0 5.5 7.5 6.0 9.0 5.0 7.0 3.0.0 3.5.5 2.5 3.5 3.0.0.5 6.5 5.0 7.0 3.5.5 5.0 7.0 7 10 12 9 5 3 7 3 10 8 6 0 8 5 7 90 120 135 90 90 0 120 120 Core subjects total 10 10 1 100 1680 1965 Specialization subjects total 100 100 82 1000 1200 915 Subjects total 20 20 20 200 2880 2880 5. GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE activities in Slovenia have been very intensive during the last 1 0 years, mainly due to construction of motorway network, rehabilitation of many small and large landslides, construction of new residential and office buildings in urban areas, which usually involve the construction of deep basements. These activities have led to the formation of strong geotechnical consulting companies and many smaller. We have 7 general geotechnical laboratories including two at both universities. Additionally there are 6 laboratories specialized in the quality control of earthworks. 195
There are 6 major local contractors in Slovenia specialized also or exclusively in the execution about geotechnical works (e.g. bored and/or driven piles, geotechnical anchors, grouting, jet grouting). Large European contractors are also present in geotechnical construction in Slovenia. Engineers are organised within the Chamber of engineers, which is authorized to issue licences for individual engineering disciplines. Only chamber members with valid licence are allowed to manage the design, review, execution and supervision of civil engineering works. The chamber is organized in divisions of specialized engineering disciplines. engineers are partly members of the division of Civil engineering and partly of the division of Mining and geotechnology, which reflects the organization of undergraduate studies in Slovenia described above. Slovenian Society has a membership of 150 engineers and is a member of the International society of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering, International society of rock mechanics and International association of engineering geology. Umversities, Chamber of engineers and Slovenian geotechnical society work together in providing necessary connections, information and knowledge to our geotechnical engineering community. Table 7: Current proposal for the study of geotechnical engineering in the " and 5" year at the F acuity o f c lvii eng1neenng, Un1versityof Manbor Semester "' ear 5'" ear Subject ECTS Hours ECTS Hours Advanced Mathematics 8 100 Finite element method 50 Plates and shells 50 Structural dynamics 5 Selected topics in geotechnical engineering 9 120 Rock mechanics and underground structures 9 120 Retaining structures 5 Detailing of reinforced concrete structures 5 Environmental geotechnics 5 Transport infrastructure 6 Geotechnics of transport infrastructure 50 Advanced foundation engineering 5 Bridges H:tdrotechnical structures 5 StructuraiJ>hysics Economics of civil engineeringworks 5 Selective subjects 15 180 Thesis 18 90 Total 5 650 Total ECTS I hours 120 Selective subjects (3x5) Decision making in Investments 5 Transportation structures 5 Experimental analysis of structures 5 Stabilisation works in geotechnics 5 _gg Soil rheology 5 ~ Stabilit:t of transportation structures 5 ~ Detailing of geotechnical structures 5 Dams 5 Refurbishment of civil engineering works 5 196