Revolutionising engineering education in the Middle East region to promote earthquake-disaster mitigation

Abstract

Due to the high market demands for professional engineers in the Arab oil-producing countries, the appetite of Middle Eastern students for high-paying jobs and challenging careers in engineering has sharply increased. As a result, engineering programmes are providing opportunities for more students to enrol on engineering courses through lenient admission policies that do not compromise academic standards. This strategy has generated an influx of students who must be carefully educated to enhance their professional knowledge and social capital to assist in future earthquake-disaster risk-reduction efforts. However, the majority of Middle Eastern engineering students are unaware of the valuable acquired engineering skills and knowledge in building the resilience of their communities to earthquake disasters. As the majority of the countries in the Middle East are exposed to seismic hazards and are vulnerable to destructive earthquakes, engineers have become indispensable assets and the first line of defence against earthquake threats. This article highlights the contributions of some of the engineering innovations in advancing technologies and techniques for effective disaster mitigation and it calls for the incorporation of earthquake-disaster-mitigation education into academic engineering programmes in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Keywords:

• engineering education
• earthquake mitigation
• disaster risk reduction
• universities
• Middle East

Additional information

About the authors

Hoda Baytiyeh has B.E. in Computer Engineering from France, M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Balamand and Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville), USA. Upon graduation in 2009, she joined AUB Faculty of Art and Science as an assistant professor in the Department of Education. In her current position, she teaches courses in Educational Technology and Web Design. Her primary research areas of interest include Online Learning Communities, Social Networking, Engineering Education and Earthquake Disaster Risk Education focusing on community and schools engagement. She has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings.

Mohamad Naja received his B.S, in Physics from California State University at San Francisco, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University, USA. He joined the Engineering Faculty at the Lebanese University as an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering in October 1995 where he taught Dynamic of Structures, Earthquake Resistant Design, Base Isolation, Special topic in Seismic Retrofit. He has supervised hundreds of earthquake-resistant design projects. Besides his academic responsibilities, his research interests focus on passive seismic control and earthquake-disaster risk mitigation.