Engineers are increasingly involved in processes of social transformation and environmental and technological challenges, including at the international level, and this trend will continue in the coming years. The profession offers young generations excellent opportunities for growth and work, for example, in the creation of ultra-performing materials, in architectures in line with bioclimates and energy efficiency requirements, in the management of water resources, in land protection, in the development of infrastructures that can withstand extreme natural events, and in digital technologies for the control and management of constructions.
The data is clear. The number of graduates in civil and environmental engineering has decreased by 30% in the last five years in Italy, while master's graduates have decreased by 15% (source: Ministry of University and Research, National registry of students and graduates). As this occurs, the demand for engineering professionals and graduates continues to rise, with an employment rate close to 100% within 6 months of graduation.
This was one of the topics of today's event at the Mesiano Campus, which focused on excellence to innovate civil and environmental engineering.
The day started with a welcome address by Franco Fraccaroli, vice-rector for organizational well-being and relations with staff, and with the presentation of the event by Oreste Bursi, director of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (Dicam) of the University of Trento.
Franco Bonollo (University of Padova) illustrated the Ingegneria 2040 project, developed by Conferenza per l'Ingegneria (Copi) based, among other things, on the views of the World Economic Forum 2020 on the strategic jobs for the future, on perspectives for university education, and the demands of the labour market for future engineers.
The new directions for engineering at the University of Trento are included in the project of excellence Dicam-Exc (2023-2027), illustrated by Bursi, which follows the previous one, that has just come to an end, described by Marco Tubino. Dicam-Exc obtained a very positive evaluation by the Ministry, ranking as the first in the area of Civil Engineering and Architecture in the general ranking; the two scientific areas of reference are water engineering and solid mechanics and structural/infrastructural systems. Among the Department's development goals are sustainable water resource management, mitigation of extreme events (floods and droughts), materials for the space industry, and the reliability of structural/infrastructure systems. The Department also aims to renew its second-cycle degrees, with English-taught courses and double/triple degree programmes, and PhD programmes, with innovative tools (such as technology-enhanced active learning, activity-based learning, virtual labs and 3D prototyping) to facilitate incoming international mobility and train highly qualified professionals that can be competitive in global scenarios.
The Department is also at work to strengthen its collaboration with society, in a process based on the enhancement of knowledge (new entrepreneurship, third-party activities, development cooperation) by paying attention, as almost no one else does in Italy, to civil, construction and environmental engineering for the sustainable development of emerging and vulnerable countries.
The event continued with the contributions of Domenico Buttafoco and Samantha Buremi from WeBuild, Martina Bussettini of the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra), and Angelo Domenico Perrini, President of the National Council of Engineers (CNI).
For more information: https://webmagazine.unitn.it/node/115477