Road and Transportation Engineering

BASIC INFORMATION

The Master of Science degree in Road and Transportation Engineering is organized by the Department of Civil Engineering, KNUST in collaboration with the University of Birmingham and India Institute of Technology, Madras under the auspices of the Ministry of Transportation. The programme  aims  at providing postgraduate education for mainly civil engineering graduates already working in the road sector or aspiring to pursue careers in road and transportation engineering.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Prospective students must hold a First Class or Second Class Honours (Upper Division)  in BSc Civil Engineering with a minimum of two years working experience in the Road Transport Sector or First Class or Second Class Honours (Upper Division)  in BSc Geomatic Engineering with a  five years minimum working experience also in the Road Transport Sector.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The course aims to develop professionals to be knowledgeable and to acquire skills necessary to manage a road network. These skills include planning, design, budgeting, resourcing, construction and maintenance management, traffic control and management.
Graduate engineers from the programme will possess increased ability to define and judge proposed solutions for road facilities and transportation problems and also to be able to manage the asset in an environment where Private/Public sector Partnerships is the trend.

COURSE STRUCTURE

The Road and Transportation Engineering course consists of a total of 57 credits made up of 29 credits from lectures and 55 credits from practical work . A credit is equivalent to 1 hour of lecture or 2 hours of practical work per week in a 16 week semester. This translates to a total of about 1340 contact hours. These credits are covered in 24 courses packaged into 10 Modules.

TAUGHT COURSES

The taught courses cover core pavement and geometric engineering design issues, management of human, financial and the construction process as well as the management of road maintenance. The course also covers rural roads and technology choice issues as well as introductory transportation planning and policy, traffic safety and GIS skills. Selective and core courses are available to enable students major in road management or urban transport.

	Module Name	Description
Module 1	Research Methods	Statistics Reasearch Methods Information Systems
Module 2	Resource Management	Human Resource Management Basic Accounting and Financial Management
Module 3	Planning and Design	Transportation Planning and Policy Introduction to Public Transport Rural Roads and Technology Choice Geometric Design Road Drainage
Module 4	Traffic Movement and Operations	Road Safety Traffic and the Environment Traffic Engineering Operations
Module 5	Pavements	Geotechnical Engineering Pavement Engineering
Module 6	Construction Management	Road Constructs and Law Construction Planning Project Estimation and Cost Control
Module 7	Asset Management	Maintenance Management Systems and Operations
Module 8	Transport Economics	Transport Economics Road Investment Appraisa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transportation Design Course

There is a practical transportation scheme design course of 128 hours of student input (Module 9), which allows the course participants to undertake the design of a live transportation project and to defend it before a panel of Experienced Engineering Consultants.

Field Trips

The final component of the programme consists of seminars and field trips which are not credited but are a pre-requisite for graduation.

Thesis Defence:

The MSc thesis is a 12 credit course and it allows students to conduct a piece of research study into a locally relevant transportation problem and to report it in a standard thesis format.
Study Tour of the UK
At the end of the taught courses, students have the opportunity to visit various transportation facilities and institutions in the UK under supervision of the University of Birmingham. The visit is for 2 weeks.

REQUIREMENTS FOR GRADUATION

A candidate seeking the Master of Science degree in Road and Transportation Engineering will be required to pass a written and an oral examination administered on campus. A minimum of 57 credits must be attained at the end of the course. 
 

The pass mark for any course subject is 50% and the minimum Cumulative Weighted Average (CWA) for graduation is 55. In addition students will be required to attend seminars given by industry professionals and take part in field trips organized as part of the programme.

FEES

The schedule of fees for participation in RTEP for the 2011/2012 academic year is currently unavailable. However, below is the fees breakdown (exclusively for DUR sponsored Ghanaian graduates) for the 2010/2011 academic year. International students wishing to apply for the programme should contact the RTEP Office.

Item	Cost($)
Course Participation Fee	3700
University User Fee	500
University Application Forms	50
M. S. c. Thesis	800
Accommodation at RTEP Hostel	1500
Study Tour	4500

 

 

NOTE: The cost of air tickets and per diem for course participants during the two-week field trip to the UK is not part of this invoice and should be budgeted for separately.

ACCOMMODATION

Participants may be accommodated at RTEP Hostel located behind the University Hall of KNUST. The hostel can be contacted through the manager through the programme assistants on the following numbers:  Kate Amissah:  0203972664
 Emmanuel Martey: 0246573942.

NOTE: Accommodation at the Hostel is not compulsory but is recommended to facilitate group work and for ease of access to lecture rooms .

SHORT COURSES

Alongside the formal degree programme, a number of short courses are offered for the continuing professional development of road transport sector engineers. Institutions with specific training needs may also be served with tailor-made  courses where there is a critical mass of participants.