Civil Engineering

Applicants for this program should be: génie civil est l‘ensemble des activités, techniques nécessaires à la réalisation de constructions civiles.

Civil Engineering is a set of professional and technical activities which are necessary to realize civil constructions. The civil engineer takes in charge design, construction, management, maintenance and repair work in the building domain and public works. He is required to meet the growing needs of people while ensuring public safety and respecting the environment and sustainable development.

The Civil Engineer mobilizes the skilled human resources, as well as technical and financial means to realize projects. The fields of activity of Civil Engineering contribute directly or indirectly to the creation of employment in other sectors in national and international contexts.

• Objectives of a degree programme of civil engineering

In order to fulfill his tasks, the civil engineer benefits from a multidisciplinary and high level education at IIT which enables him to master the design, study, dimensioning of the elements of his work, the realization of a construction project and the rehabilitation of constructions (buildings, engineering structures, roads, etc.) by relying on fundamental scientific methodologies and the most recent technical and technological methodologies relevant to his specialty: structures, soil mechanics, materials, reinforced concrete, hydraulics, etc... In addition, the civil engineer exploits his practical and theoretical knowledge enhanced with computer skills and mathematics to design and meet any actual or potential need in his sector. His training is enriched by practical insights related to project management, quality control and communication techniques. It is also based on a research activity that is increasingly close to the needs of the job market or required for higher program of education (ex. PhD degree).

All these skills give this specialty a wide range of potential sectors of activities in which the engineer can work and innovate.

• Sectors of Activity:

Civil engineering comprises all the activities related to two main sectors building and public works. This includes design, management and construction activities in the fields of buildings, major specific dam and marine works, the building materials industry and infrastructures such as roads or pipelines.

These activities can be carried out in the private (mainly corporate), public (administrations, ministries, research and innovation centers) or semi-public (public-private partnership companies) sectors.

• Civil engineering professions

These two sectors of activity lead to several professions of civil engineers. The training of Civil Engineers offered at IIT aims to prepare engineers to occupy the following responsibilities in companies, design offices or administrations:

• P1: Engineer of studies and control of buildings: it consists in designing, calculating the frames and the foundation of buildings while taking into account the standards of fire safety and fire resistance of the elements in Armed Concrete and the standards of the earthquake-proof design of the buildings, as well as the control of the studies, the execution and the quality of the buildings.
• P2: Building Company Engineer: deals with execution processes, preparation of measurements and accounts, stock and supply management, work planning, organization and installation of building sites, preparation of execution plans, preparation of offers, quality control of materials, etc...
• P3: Steering and Coordination Engineer: in charge of work assistance, work planning, quantity surveying, evaluation and settlement in a project, work optimization, quality control of materials, ...
• P4: Administrative Engineer: can occupy administrative positions in Ministries, regional directorates, offices, municipalities, investment banks, real estate developers ... and is generally responsible for writing report, communication, coordination, validation of work, accounts and settlement methods, project evaluation ...
• P5: Roads and Bridges Engineer: in charge of the design and calculation of engineering structures, the stability of supporting structures, the design and calculation of roads, roadways and various networks, ...
• P6: Roads and Bridges Company Engineer: deals with the processes of execution of the works of the engineering structures, quality control of materials, measurements and counts, management of stocks and supplies, planning of the works and organization of the building site, ...
• P7: Maintenance and Rehabilitation Engineer of Civil Engineering Structures: deals with the diagnosis of degraded structures and the knowledge of the probable causes, the resolution of pathological problems of the structures, rehabilitation and maintenance.
• P8: Marine Works Engineer: in charge of the design, dimensioning, construction and maintenance of marine works (embankments, docks, wharves), ...

In order to cover all the mentioned activities and to practice these professions, the engineer must master the fundamental sciences as well as the technical ones. He must also know foreign languages (in our case French and English), management and economics. Moreover, he must be aware of societal values, environment, and sustainable development.

The Civil Engineer who graduates from IIT must acquire a set of generic and specific skills to succeed in his career in one of the targeted professions. These skills can be obtained thanks to extracurricular activities.

Therefore, the training of civil engineers is a combination between generic and specific competencies. While the formers are necessary for every professional activity, the latter are strictly related to civil engineering professions. These two kinds of competencies will be detailed below.

• Generic Competencies:

Generic competencies are a common denominator between all the engineering programmes at IIT that’s why they are imminently covered. The engineer must have a solid scientific knowledge and a decent general culture to have a global vision on the project to create. It should also integrate technological developments. The opening to the international market for construction projects requires a deep understanding of people, traditions, cultures and civilizations. Mastering a foreign language and some communication techniques (English, French, Chinese, Arabic and others) are essential in the training of Civil Engineers. The generic basis for all engineering training is scientific and technical knowledge, the ability to adapt to the specific requirements of the company and society, and the consideration of the organizational and cultural dimension.

• Specific Competencies:

The Civil Engineer must have a solid technical and technological base to master the design, the study, the dimensioning of the elements of the work and the realization of a construction project. The mastery of numerical tools for structural modeling, quality control, construction processes, planning and organization of work and project management is essential for a company's competitiveness.

In accordance with international standards, the IIT civil engineering student can choose elective modules to customize their major. The choice is made during the fifth semester between the following four optional specialties:

-Management

-Buildings

-bridges and roads

-marine works

• Perspectives

After graduating in Civil Engineering, the majority of engineers directly join a national or international private company, administrations such as ministries of state, research and innovation study centers, semi-state industrial companies related to the field of Civil Engineering. To obtain a professional master's degree, some graduates wish to acquire other fields of professional skills with a more accentuated specialization in a particular technical field, in the management of Civil Engineering projects or related to the management of human resources, the management of production equipment or realization on site. A minority of young graduates wish to acquire specific skills related to fundamental or applied research in order to obtain a PhD degree either in Tunisia or abroad.

Admission conditions