Many universities and institutes of national importance offer postgraduate programs in transportation systems, and transportation engineering. They are designed based on the expertise of the faculty of the institutions. The students have to choose appropriate programs based on their career needs.

1. Critical Reviews of Selected
Postgraduate Programs in Transportation
Engineering against the Needs of
Infrastructure Development
THANIKACHALAM VEDHATHIRI
(VTHANI2025@YAHOO.IN)

2. Selected Institutes for Outcome Based
M.E/M.Tech. (Transportation Engineering)
Jawaharlal Nehru
Technological University,
Hyderabad, Telangana
National Institute
of Technology,
Tiruchirappalli,
Tamil Nadu
Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras
Bhanarus Hindu
University,
Varanasi
Indian Institute of
Technology, Delhi

3. Selected Institutes for Outcome based M.E/M.Tech.
(Transportation System Engineering)…
Gujarat
Technological
University,
Ahmedabad, Gujarat
National Institute of
Technology,
Warangal, Andhra
Pradesh
Indian Institute of
Technology, Bombay
& Government
College of
Engineering,
Trivandrum

4. Macro Observation: Transportation
Engineering Programs offer specialization
in:
Design
System
Engineering
Management

5. Need for Greater Focus on:
Transportation
System Analysis
Performance
optimization
Economics related
to transportation
engineering
Planning methods
Data sciences for
transportation
Intelligent
transportation
system
Safety and
security
Transportation
policy, planning
and sustainability

6. Need Longitudinal Study of the Alumni to
get Feedbacks on:
How many of them have entered into Highways,
Public Transport Companies, Airports. Port
trusts, Railways, higher studies (PhD),
Consultancy works ?
Feedback from
the alumni
Evaluation on
their
performance by
the employers
Teaching jobs in
India/ foreign
countries
New opportunities due
to massive investments
in infrastructure
development

7. Desired Hard
Skills of
Transportation
Engineers
(3. a, b, c of
ABET)
An ability to apply
knowledge of
mathematics, science
and engineering in
transportation (3.a)
An ability to design
and conduct
experiments as well
as analyze and
interpret data in
transportation
projects (3.b)
An ability to design a
transportation system,
component, or process to meet
desired needs within realistic
constraints such as economic,
environmental, social,
political, ethical, health and
safety, manufacturability and
sustainability (3.c)

8. Desired Hard Skills (3. e, k of ABET)…
An ability to identify,
formulate, and solve
transportation
engineering problems
(3. e)
An ability to use the
technics, skills, and
modern transportation
engineering problems
(3.k)

9. Desired Professional Skills for
Transportation Engineers
(3.d,f & j of ABET)…
An ability to
function on multi-
disciplinary teams in
transportation (3. d)
1
An understanding of
professional and
ethical responsibility
in transportation
engineering projects
(3. f)
2
A knowledge to use the
techniques, skills, and
engineering tools
necessary for
transportation
engineering practice (3.j)
3

10. The Engineer of 2020:
Prof. Bernard Amadea, the Univ. of Colorado at Boulder: “Engineer
without Borders (EWB)
Introduced open-ended problem-solving
In conjunction with developing synthesis, analysis, team-work,
communication, business and entrepreneurial skills

11. Sheppard and Jenison (1997), Dym et al.
(2005):
•Focused on designing systems and on
attaining a broader understanding of their
work’s impact on their communities and
their surroundings.

12. Nguyen (1998), Palmer (2002) and Goel et al.
(2008):
Focused on the
managerial
skills
Engineers have
transitioned from
their traditions
and purely
technical roles to
managerial ones
A sense of
business
practices and
leadership
skills

13. Initiatives to Develop Professional Skills:
University Focus
Purdue University, and Virginia
Tech, USA (Department of
Engineering Education)
Interdisciplinary department
planned engineering programs
Clark School of Engineering,
University of Maryland, USA
Modular team training program ;
Modules: Introductory, Intermediate
and Advanced.
Areas: Personal, Interpersonal and
Project-management

14. Initiatives to Develop Professional skills…
University Focus
College of
Engineering,
Cornell University,
USA
Work with community members
Identify and solve technology based problems;
Employ solutions that can be locally sustained
Lead to an improving quality of life.
University of
Michigan, USA
Global Engineering Leadership Honors Program;
Focused on China, the United Kingdom, &
Mexico;
Flexible framework, International Experience,
Cross-cultural skills, Global course content.

15. MIT - Boston, USA Focuses on:
• Interdepartmental Master of Science in Transportation
• Interaction of Technology, Operations, Planning,
Management & Policy Making
• Offers Air Transportation, Analysis and Planning
Methods, Data Sciences for Transportation
• Intelligent Transportation Systems, Safety and Security
and Supply Chain Management, Transportation
Planning, Policy and Sustainability
• Urban Transportation

16. Synthesis of Global Universities Focus:
• Almost all leading global universities focus on the
global exposure and bring partnership in planning
and implementing the engineering programs.
• Provide opportunities for collaboration and
exposure to global design methods.

17. Applied Mathematics Courses Offered by
the Transportation Engineering:
• Applied Numerical Methods
• Applied Statistics
• Applied Statistics in Transportation Engineering
• Numerical Methods and Applied Statistics
• Advanced Numerical Methods
• Statistical Techniques, Design and Analysis
• Optimization Techniques
• Optimization and Simulation Techniques

18. Inferences on the offering of mathematics:
Applied
Statistics is
offered in
five
institutes.
01
System
Analysis is
offered in
four
institutes
02
Optimization
Techniques
and Modeling
are offered in
three
institutes.
03
Analysis
and
Simulation
are offered
in three
institutes.
04
IIT Madras
offers
Advanced
Computati
onal
Methods.
05
Dynamics
and
Stochastic
Modeling is
useful to
solve the
complex
transportatio
n problems
06

19. Major Short Comings in the Program Design:
Program Educational Objectives , Course Outcomes
were not indicated.
The needs of the transport planning to supplement the
infrastructure development are not fully included.

20. System Analysis in Transportation
Engineering:
• Transportation System Analysis
• Intelligent Transportation System
• Transportation Network Analysis
• Logistics Systems
• Application of Software Computing Techniques
• Principles of Geomatics

21. Inferences on System Analysis:
• There is a need to focus on urban transportation by some of
the institutes
• Transportation planning needs to be focused by many
institutes
• There is a need to develop case studies on the ongoing
transportation corridors to link ports with industrial hubs.

22. Transportation Modeling:
• Modeling, Analysis and Simulation
• Advanced Transportation Modeling
• Traffic Modeling and Simulation
• Heterogeneous Traffic-Flow Modeling and Simulation
• Dynamic and Stochastic Modeling of Transportation Networks
• Advanced Surveying and Cartography
• Finite Element Method

23. Inferences on the Courses on Modeling:
• Almost all the Institutes offer courses on modeling
except one

24. Pavement Design
• Analysis, Design of Pavements
• Materials, Design, and Construction of Pavements
• Design and Evaluation of Pavements
• Design and Maintenance of Pavements
• Pavement Evaluation, Rehabilitation and Maintenance
• Pavement Management System

25. Inferences on Pavement Design:
•Almost all the Institutes offer required
courses in Pavement Design.

26. Pavement, Construction, and Testing
• Pavement Materials
• Advanced Pavement Materials
• Advanced Highway Materials
• Highway Materials and Testing
• Pavement Materials and Evaluation Lab

27. Pavements
• Micro –Mechanical Characteristics of Asphalt Concrete
• Investigation on Modified Binders
• Healing of Applied Mixtures
• Performance –Based Design of Bituminous Mixes
• Pavement Recycling
• Concrete Pavements for Highways and Airports
• Design and Maintenance of Pavements
• Pavement Evaluation, Rehabilitation and Maintenance
• Pavement Management System

28. Inferences on Pavement Construction:
Heavy earth moving
equipment are not
included
IIT Madras has
developed need based
courses in pavement
design to suite various
materials
The problems due to
regional deposits are not
focused.
Subsoil improvements
methods are not
included.
Ongoing infrastructure
projects were not
included.

29. Transport System Planning
• Transit System Planning
• Transport Planning
• Transportation Systems
• Transportation Engineering Software Lab
• Planning and Design of Low Volume Roads
• Planning and Design of Non-Motorized Transportation

30. Inferences on Transportation Planning:
“TIP” (Theory into
Planning) is missing
Case Studies on the
Problems on
Infrastructure Planning
are to be Incorporated
Comparative Studies
on the Best Global
Projects have to be
introduced
Shortcomings on the
Transportation and its
Impact on Economy
need to be considered

31. Urban Transport Planning
Urban Transport
Planning
01
Urban
Transportation
System
Planning
02
Urban and
Reginal
Transportation
Planning
03

32. Inference on Urban Transport Planning:
Three institutes
do not focus on
this aspect
Best Global
Projects could
be included

33. Traffic Engineering
• Traffic Engineering
• Traffic Analysis
• Theory of Traffic Flow
• Theory of Traffic Flow and Management
• Traffic Control and Management
• Traffic Engineering and Management

34. Inferences on the Courses on Traffic
Engineering:
All the Institutes offer
this Course
Case studies on the
Advancements in
Traffic Flow and
Management can be
offered
The Postgraduate
Students could be
trained through the
ongoing consultacy
research projects

35. Traffic Demand
Advanced
Traffic Demand
Modeling
Traffic System
Design
Traffic Design
Studies
Advanced
Traffic
Engineering

36. Inferences in
Traffic Demand
Modeling
Very opt course
National and regional surveys could
be included
The Graduate Students could be
involved in the consultancy projects

37. Geometric
Design
Highway Geometric Design
Geometric Design of Transportation
Geometric Design of Streets and Highways
Intersection Design and Analysis
Transportation and Traffic Infrastructure Design
CAD in Transportation Engineering
Activity-Based Travel Demand Modeling
Multimodal Transportation System Planning and Design

38. Inferences on Geometric Design
Case Studies from the
National Highway Projects
could be offered
The Design Engineers from
the ongoing metro and
national highway projects
could be invited to present
the technical designs

39. GIS Application
Courses in
Transportation
Engineering:
GIS for Transportation Engineering
GIS and GPS in Civil Engineering
GIS and Remote Sensing
GIS Application in Transportation
Engineering

40. Inferences on the GIS and GPS Courses
Only Five Institutes offer
these courses
1
There is need for GIS
software based project
works
2

41. Courses on Air Transportation:
• Aviation Infrastructure Planning
• Airport Planning and Design
• Airport Infrastructure Planning and Design

42. Inferences in Airport Infrastructure Planning
Only three
institutes offer
this course
Two institutes
offer this course
as elective
Airport Authority of India
(AAI) can be industrial
partner to plan sponsored
courses
Research projects could
be offered by AAI

43. Water
Transportation
Water Transportation
Waterway Infrastructure
Planning and Design

44. Inferences in
Water
Transportation
Only two institutes offer this
course
Port-Trusts can be associated
with this course for developing
sponsored research projects

45. Courses on Structures, Bridges, and
Construction
Transporta
tion
Structures
1
Traffic and
Transporta
tion
Structures
2
Bridge
Engineerin
g
3
Advanced
Bridge
Design
4
Analysis
and
Design of
Bridges
5

46. Inferences on
Courses in
Bridges and
Construction
Most of the Institutes offer as electives
The Structural Engineering Departments
of these Institutes can specialize in this
courses
Many institutes are taking up many
consultancy projects and they can
involve the postgraduate students

47. Courses on Construction Practice and
Foundation Engineering
Highway
Construction
Practice
Highway
Construction and
Management
Advanced
Foundation
Engineering
Ground
improvement
Techniques
Design of Geo-
Synthetics

48. Inferences on Foundation Engineering Courses
Only four
institutes offer
this course
There is a need for
case studies in
foundation design
for bridges
All the Transportation engineering
students have to be exposed to the
regional deposits and the
appropriate design of foundations
The Geotechnics department
have to prepare a set of case
studies
The structural engineers have
be informed through the case
studies

49. Courses on Environmental Assessment
Transportation
and Environment
Environmental
Impact
Assessment
Environmental
Impact
Assessment and
Auditing
Environmental
Legislation and
Audit
Environmental
Analysis of
Transport System
Automobile
Pollution Control
Sustainable
Transportation
Climate Change
and Sustainable
Development

50. Inferences on the inclusion of
Environmental Aspects
Only five institutes have focused their concern on environment
Every transportation engineer needs through exposure to
Environmental Impact Assessment and remediation processes
They also have to know about the climate change and sustainable
development

51. Courses on Road Safety
Road Safety
Road Safety Engineering
Highway Safety Audits
Transportation Safety Environment

52. Inferences on Safety Aspects
Only four institutes focus
on Safety
There is a need for case
studies on safety on
transportation engineering
structures, foundation, and
pollution etc.

53. Courses on Project Management
• Project Management
• Highway Construction and Management
• Project Engineering
• Design Models and Management
• Asset Management
• Transportation System Management
• Public Transportation System

54. Inferences on
Project
Management
Courses
Six institutes offer this course
Highly useful for the project
executives
There are a large number of
software available for this course

55. Mass
Transportation
Mass Transportation System
Mass and Multimodal
Transportation Systems
Regional and Rural
Transportation Planning

56. Inferences on the Mass Transportation
Course
Only two
institutes offer
this course
India needs
more attention
on this aspect

57. Railways
Rail Road Engineering
Railway Infrastructure,
Planning, and Design

58. Inference on Railway Engineering Course
Only two institutes
offer this course
Indian Railways
conduct in-house
programs for their
engineers
They can offer
many sponsored
programs for these
institutes
These institutes can offer many
advanced continuing education
programs for the executives of
Indian Railways
Indian Railways can sponsor their engineers
for the postgraduate programs in Civil
Engineering (Foundation Engineering,
Structural Engineering, Transportation
Engineering, Environmental Engineering etc.)

59. Economics
Transportation Economics
Transportation Economics and Project
Evaluation
Transportation Economics and Finance
Economics and Evaluation of
Transportation Projects

60. Human Resource
•Human Resource Management

61. Suggestions for Improving the Transportation
Engineering Programs
• The programs need to be focused on the needs of the country
• More collaboration is required from the government departments
• They can sponsor research projects to these institutes
• They can also plan cooperative programs
• These institutes can offer in-house executive development programs
• The postgraduate students have to be exposed to the problems in ongoing
projects
• Their dissertation could be taken from the field

62. Thank You
•Your Questions Please