Traffic Engineering

Brief Introduction

 

The Traffic Engineering Program of Northeast Forestry University was founded in 1999 and began to enroll undergraduate students in the same year. It was approved by the State Education Commission of China and is now a key construction program in Heilongjiang Province.

 

To meet the needs of modernization construction and multi-level social demands, the Traffic Engineering Program aims to cultivate students having a good command of the fundamental theories and skills of traffic engineering, in addition to the fundamental knowledge of society, economics and humanities. Students graduating from the program will have a good education in humanities and social science, social responsibility, engineering professional ethnics, cooperative communication competence, learning practice ability and will have the innovative spirit to achieve the all-round development of morality, intelligence physique and aesthetic, and develop morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically. The college aims to cultivate students into application-oriented engineering technology and management talents who can work in careers related to traffic surveying, traffic system planning, management and control, traffic engineering design, construction and management, technical and economic analysis of traffic systems, traffic impact, traffic safety, and traffic environmental protection, etc. The curriculum mainly includes courses such as Traffic Operations Research, Introduction to Traffic Engineering, Road Engineering, Traffic Systems Engineering, Traffic Economics, Traffic Investigation and Analysis, Transportation Planning, Traffic Management and Control, Traffic Design, and Traffic Engineering Facilities Design, etc.

 

Currently, there are 10 full-time faculty for the traffic engineering program, including one professor, four associate professors, one senior engineer, four lecturers, and four postgraduate supervisors. In addition, there is one part-time professor as a postgraduate supervisor. All full-time teachers have a master’s degree or above, and 70% of them have a Ph.D. We have a strong teaching and researching capacity. 

 

The Traffic engineering laboratory consists of traffic signal control laboratory, traffic environment detection laboratory, traffic data collection and signal processing laboratory, traffic flow monitoring laboratory, driving adaptability testing laboratory and driving simulation laboratory, etc. In addition, there are seven stable fieldwork bases on or off the campus.

 

Characteristics

 

To meet the needs of society development, we continuously reform the talent training plan, complete the curriculum system, and improve the professionalism, systematization and integrity of knowledge. We set curriculum groups in the talent training plan and consider the diversified social needs and student’s individual development. We implant entrepreneurial theory and practice modules in the curriculum system, and provide the support of knowledge structure and practical skills for cultivation of entrepreneurial talent, so as to cultivate students’ comprehensive competence and quality.

 

We implement the undergraduate academic tutorial system. Starting in their second year, responsible teachers with high academic level are elected to work as the tutors for undergraduate students, and they form a mentor relationship with students to introduce students to the tutor’s research and teaching so as to make students’ learning and innovative activities benefit directly from the tutor’s research, academic, technological development, technical services and technical work. We aim to form a “research-teaching through training” and gradually constructs students’ academic idea, research methodology and work competence, and promote their professional knowledge learning.

 

Students’ Prospect

 

Employment: The employment rate of 2016 graduates is 100%. Their working places are mainly distributed in Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, some of the provincial capital cities as well as the developed coastal areas, and their companies include China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China Railway Engineering Corporation, China Communications Construction Company Limited, China Construction Municipal Engineering Corporation Limited, and Shanxi Transportation Research Institute, etc. There were more than 90 companies who came to our college for recruiting, and 80% of the employed students successfully signed employment contracts at that time.

 

Further Study: 11.1% of our graduates have further study in “985” and “211” universities such as Harbin Institute of Technology, Southeast University, Jilin University, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing Jiaotong University and Chang’an University, etc.

 

Specialists’ View

 

Traffic engineering is a key program in Heilongjiang province, and supported by the key construction program project of NEFU. This program aims to develop advanced application and research oriented talents in engineering technology and management, with learning and practical ability, consciousness of innovation, fundamental professional knowledge, professional engineering ethics, team spirit, a sense of social responsibility and the quality of humanistic and social science. To meet the diversified needs of students and the society, the program starts with courses on fundamental theory, rail transportation, intelligent transportation, and transportation and civil engineering, etc., so as to provide relatively flexible individualized education for students who want to have further study or engage in the major-related occupations such as traffic survey, transportation system planning, traffic management and control, traffic design, traffic engineering infrastructure design, construction and management, technical and economic analysis of transportation systems, traffic impact evaluation, public transportation, traffic safety, and traffic environmental protection, etc. Graduates can work in places related to traffic management, transportation planning, traffic engineering research institutes, designing institute, communication and transportation industrial management, highway, urban construction, project supervision, and public transportation operation management.

 

We implement the undergraduate academic tutorial system. During their 4-year study, all students will have personal academic tutors to help them participate in academic activities, professional practice, innovation and entrepreneurship competitions. Influenced by the strong academic atmosphere, students are willing to study further and one third of the students are enrolled to pursue their MA degree. Some students are enrolled in prestigious universities in this field such as Jilin University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Southeast University, Southwest Jiaotong University and Beijing Jiaotong University, etc. 

 

About the Specialist

 

Ding Boqun is a professor, master’s supervisor, and is the director of traffic engineering program, the academic leader of traffic information engineering and control, a member of China Highway and Transportation Society, a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, a member of the council of the Forestry Machinery Association, Chinese Forestry Society, and one of the reviewers of State Science and Technology Prizes and National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published over 50 papers, and won more than 10 scientific and technological awards of the provincial and ministerial level. He was also awarded the “Excellent Communist Party Member” in Heilongjiang higher education system.

 

Students’ View

 

Traffic engineering aims to cope with various traffic problems through studying its features and application, so as to make the traffic transportation safer, faster, more comfortable, and more economical. After learning the fundamental knowledge and principles of traffic engineering, students diverge into two different orientations. One focuses on the subgrade and pavement engineering and road survey and design as main courses, supplemented with traffic engineering CAD, practical measuring of road and bridge orientation, in order to help students master the basic ability of traffic infrastructure planning, design and engineering project evaluation. The other focuses on traffic management and control and traffic security as main courses, supplemented with traffic survey, urban planning orientation, in order to help students master the different kinds of traffic survey approaches to distribute reasonable time for the traffic lights in the district so as to make traffic flow more smoothly.

 

Traffic engineering is closely related with our daily life and our nation now develops rapidly. It is obvious that modern cities cannot run without traffic, and commodity circulation needs traffic, and modern life cannot proceed without commodities.