Handle all construction work. They are concerned with the planning, research, survey and construction of all kinds of buildings as also roads, traffic and transportation systems, irrigation and power plants; water supply and sewage disposal plants, ports and harbors, oil rigs, etc. A civil engineer is responsible for planning and designing a project and then having it constructed to the required scale. Civil engineering also aims at improving human lifestyles by judicially utilizing the natural resources available. 

Necessary Qualifications

To become a civil engineer one needs to be a BE/B.Tech. or a ME/M.Tech. (civil engineering). Overseers should have a diploma in civil engineering from a polytechnic or should have passed the AMIE (Associate Member of the Institute of Engineering) examination.

Academic Programme / Curriculum

The civil engineering course includes all the basic engineering sciences. It is designed to introduce the students to a wide range of problems encountered by civil engineers-structures, foundation, construction, hydraulics and environmental engineering, works management and cost, transportation engineering, irrigation engineering, etc.

The postgraduate curriculum prepares the students for research and design oriented programmes, with emphasis on practical problems in structural engineering, hydraulics and flood control, environmental engineering, etc. 

A few institutes of higher learning also offer full-time Ph.D. programmes in structural engineering, water resource engineering, environmental engineering, stress analysis and engineering geology. 

Job Opportunities

Civil engineers are employed in all the major construction projects carried out by the government, particularly those involving the public works departments (PWD), airports, harbors, ports, water and sewage boards, the railways, private construction companies, military, engineering services, consultancy services etc. Civil engineering graduates can also go in for research and take up teaching, or they can open their own consultancy services.