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As of the Fall term of 2026, a revised Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.) program in Civil Engineering will be implemented by the Department of Civil Engineering.

Background

The revisions to the program were designed to: (1) expose students to the subdisciplines in Civil Engineering (i.e., transportation engineering, environmental engineering, water resources engineering, geotechnical engineering & structural engineering) earlier in the program; (2) enhance the design content in these subdisciplines; (3) deepen the focus on sustainability in the program and broaden the understanding of the impacts that design decisions can have on society; (4) improve communication skills in the design context; (5) include the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) in the design process; and (6) redistribute the course contents of FACC 100, WCOM 206, MECH 289 and MECH 261 across the program due to changes in these courses and/or their planned retirement. Revisions were also made to address the overlap involving project management in two courses and to reduce content in several courses that, in recent years, has resulted in an overload of material.

Process

Decisions about these changes were made following a department-wide program review that began in 2018, but which were significantly delayed due to the pandemic. The review commenced with several retreats involving all faculty members in the department. In these workshops an analysis of the program was completed and priorities for improvement were identified. Emphasis was placed on considering program adjustments using a ‘Future of Engineering Education’ perspective, where the department considered how engineering education has changed and is expected to evolve in the foreseeable future. Prior to the first retreat a survey was carried out to classify and prioritize the themes associated with the future of civil engineering starting with 23 potential areas of improvement. A comparative analysis of civil engineering programs at leading universities in Canada, along with similarly sized universities in the US, Europe and Asia was completed, primarily focused on how these other universities incorporate aspects of design, sustainability, and artificial intelligence (AI) in their respective programs.

Given the pandemic period, and the subsequent retirement of many senior faculty members, along with the hiring of seven new faculty members in the Department of Civil Engineering, who had not been involved in the initial retreats, this evaluation process was then revisited with the current faculty. A full review of the previous program recommendations was provided. This was followed by multiple training and discussion sessions for all faculty members on the B.Eng. program and each of its courses, conducted over three separate workshops. This approach was taken to ensure that each faculty member was familiar with the entire program and all courses, prior to considering or making decisions on any proposed changes or additions to the program and constituent courses. As part of the training, a short presentation of each course in the program was given by the respective instructors, the graduate attributes (GAs) were presented along with other detailed characteristics (Accreditation Units, credits, core vs. elective, lab component, prerequisites, etc.), as well as the learning outcomes. Furthermore, examples of content were provided, and the fit of each course within the program was described. From this baseline training, where each member of faculty was fully informed on the B.Eng. program and all its courses, recommendations for program changes were made. Working groups (comprising faculty members and some industry advisors) were established for the program, and each of these proposed changes to courses and/or additions/retirements of courses was fleshed out in detail. These working groups reported to the main program review committee, and a consolidated revised program proposal was drafted. The complete proposal was presented to the faculty members in two staff meetings (with refinements at each stage) and was also presented to representatives of the Civil Engineering Undergraduate Society (CEUS) and the Civil Engineering Graduate Student Society (CEGSS; the latter included members who had recently graduated from the B.Eng. program), giving them with the opportunity to provide input on the proposed changes.

Following these extensive discussions, a formal proposal was now presented for consideration and approval by the Department, the Faculty of Engineering, and University. This full proposal was approved by Senate in the Spring of 2026 with implementation planned for the Fall term of 2026.

Summary of Program Changes

The changes approved by the University that will be implemented as of the Fall of 2026 is comprised of a series of elements, as follows.

1. The removal of the following six courses from the program:

• FACC 100 Introduction to the Engineering Profession
• MECH 261 Measurement Laboratory
• MECH 289 Design Graphics
• WCOM 206 Communication in Engineering
• CIVE 418 Design Project
• CIVE 432 Technical Paper

2. The revision of the following five courses:

• CIVE 208 Civil Engineering System Analysis
• CIVE 225 Environmental Engineering
• CIVE 290 Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer
• CIVE 324 Project Management
• CIVE 446 Construction Engineering

3. The addition of five new core courses and two new technical electives:

• FACC 150 Foundations of Engineering Practice & Communication
• CIVE 219 Introduction to Design in Civil Engineering
• CIVE 224 Sustainability in Civil Engineering Practice
• CIVE 289 Design Graphics in Civil Engineering
• CIVE 419 Final Design Project in Civil Engineering
• CIVE 480 Data-Driven and AI Methods for Civil Engineering
• CIVE 529 Structural Design Optimization

Beyond the above course changes, the department decided to replace the traditional use of an elective from an approved list of courses in the Faculty to satisfy the accreditation requirement for education on the "Impact of Engineering and Technology on Society" with a mandatory core course (). It was judged that an impact course that focuses on sustainability as it applies to civil engineering practice would be highly beneficial to civil engineering graduates whose work is expected to have important social, environmental and economic consequences.

The specific goals and rationale associated with the proposed program and accompanying course changes are as follows:

1. Expose students to the subdisciplines of Civil Engineering earlier in the program - Not all sub-disciplines (see Areas of Specialization) are equally covered in the core of the program, especially before the stage where students are given the opportunity to focus on a sub-discipline in the latter part of their program. The addition of CIVE 219 and CIVE 224 which comprise elements from all five disciplines addresses this important shortcoming.
2. Improve the overall exposure to design in the subdisciplines - The teaching of design as per the recently revised CEAB definition has proven to be challenging and, furthermore, the number of design-oriented courses in the core of the program were limited. The addition of CIVE 219 provides for an opportunity to expose students to open-ended design problems and team-based collaboration within the first two years of the program and sets the stage for other design-oriented technical electives and the capstone design course (CIVE 419) in the final year of studies.
3. Improve the exposure to sustainability aspects of design in all Civil Engineering subdisciplines and the impact these design decisions may have on society - The addition of CIVE 224 in the core of the program provides for a strong base on sustainability in design for all students, which can then be further developed with subsequent technical elective courses already in the program. CIVE 224 also addresses the impact of design decisions on society specifically in the context of the five civil engineering disciplines.
4. Improve communication skills in the context of the profession and engineering practice - With the planned retirement of WCOM 206, this course and CIVE 432 courses were removed from the program and are being replaced by enhanced focus on communications distributed across FACC 150, the introductory design course CIVE 219, and the capstone design course CIVE 419. The 5-credit CIVE 419 course will replace the current 4-credit CIVE 418 where the increase in credit weight reflects the increased material related to engineering communications. In all three courses, communication skills are to be taught specifically within the context of engineering practice and the profession, which should represent a substantial improvement over the current program. Due to these changes in engineering communication elements of the program, FACC 100, WCOM 206, CIVE 418 and CIVE 432 are removed from the program.
5. Include the use of machine learning and AI in the context of civil engineering design and practice - The activities of all engineers in the future, including civil engineers, are expected to be significantly affected by the incorporation of AI into the design and decision processes. The enhancements of CIVE 208 in the core of the program and the addition of CIVE 480 as an elective provide for a better understanding of the concepts behind AI and its application as part of the design process and in the context of civil engineering practice.
6. Reduce the overlap in project management education - CIVE 324 and CIVE 446 were modified to contain complementary material, without the overlap in content that had been reported by students and staff.
7. Eliminate excessive course content - CIVE 225 and CIVE 290 were revised to ensure that relevant content was adequately covered without undue demands placed on the students. Some content was also shifted into to new courses in the core of the program (e.g., CIVE 224, CIVE 219)
8. Address the impending removal of MECH 289 and MECH 261 - In the near future, these courses will no longer be offered by the Department of Mechanical Engineering. As such, CIVE 289 was added to the civil engineering core program to cover graphical design skills in the context of civil engineering, as a direct replacement for MECH 289, but with emphasis on tools and techniques that are common to civil engineering practice. Moreover, the skills and learning outcomes related to laboratory measurements in MECH 261 are now covered in the laboratory components of CIVE 202, CIVE 225 and CIVE 327. Changes to the laboratory components of these courses are minor and did not necessitate formal changes to these courses, except for a minor change to the calendar description of CIVE 225.

Despite the many changes indicated above, the total number of credits in the Bachelor of Civil Engineering program remains unchanged at 139. Furthermore, the total Accreditation Unit (AU) count and the distribution of the twelve Graduate Attributes (GA) are designed to satisfy the requirements of the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB). Importantly, changes in total AUs and the distribution of GAs in the program were also designed to address shortcomings in the current program and are evidence of a process of continuous improvement, as required by the CEAB.

Transitional Measures

As noted above, the revised program will be implemented in the Fall of 2026 but will only affect U0 and U1 students admitted in Fall 2026. 

The transition of a program is an inherently complex task, where the Department must ensure that students admitted previously can complete their program requirements, while transitioning to a different set of requirements for newly admitted students. Students are asked to take note of the following:

For students admitted in the Fall of 2026:

• For the 2026-2027 academic year, newly admitted students must register for instead of its planned equivalent , which will be offered beginning in the 2027-2028 academic year.  

For students admitted before Fall of 2026:

• ɬÀï·¬ will continue to offer those courses that are necessary for students admitted prior to 2026 to complete their original B.Eng. program, as specified in the ɬÀï·¬ Course Catalogue issued at the time of the student's admission.
• However, students admitted prior to 2026 MUST, as soon as possible, complete the required courses in their program that will be retired soon. These include WCOM 206, MECH 261 and MECH 289. Note that while FACC 100 will not be included in the new program, this course will continue to be offered by the Faculty of Engineering for the foreseeable future.
• Even though  is a mandatory course for all civil engineering students admitted as of the Fall of 2026, students admitted prior to 2026 may choose to take this course or continue to choose any of the other impact of technology courses that were available under the old program.