Enhancing Asset Management Skill for Next Generation Bridge Engineers

Bridges and culverts are lifeline structures essential to ensure community mobility and they are demanding timely and appropriate rehabilitation programs to ensure their serviceability after many years of service and ongoing deterioration. Asset management technology and understanding of bridge deterioration are constantly improving. The current training program in most higher education providers and research institutions of Australia provide infrastructure management course as part of a Bachelor or Master program/degree and thus might not be suitable for some learners. These learners want to focus on the latest, practical and state of art asset management skills and knowledge in a short period of time. In this paper, a training program for asset management of bridges is proposed. The training program is designed to fulfill four key learning tasks: student-centred learning, learning diversity, student learning assessment and practical outcomes. The training program focuses on three important areas of asset maangement, namely, data management, prediction models, and risk management. Furthermore, E-learning technology and industrial lecturer are explored to enhance student learning.