Are Disaster-Prone Countries' Undergraduate Students Prepared? Insights From a Civil Engineering Program in Nepal

The increasing magnitude and frequency of disasters require civil engineers to possess the ability to understand disaster risk and design resilient infrastructures. However, it remains unclear whether undergraduate civil engineering students in disaster-prone countries like Nepal are adequately prepared to meet this demand. In this study, we conducted a case study using a questionnaire among undergraduate civil engineering students (n = 127) from a Nepalese university to evaluate their knowledge of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), resilience concepts, and related competencies. Our findings indicate that social media and social networks are the primary sources of DRR knowledge and information for these students. Nearly half of the students expressed neutral perceptions of the local disaster risk. While students exhibited DRR knowledge, they had limited opportunities to participate in DRR courses, workshops, or training. Students possess the basic concepts of resilience, but there was a notable gap in their ability to apply these concepts in designing resilient structures. This suggests that additional efforts are necessary to integrate these competencies into engineering curricula. Our findings provide insights to educators, curriculum designers, and policymakers in recognizing the need to transform the teaching-learning pedagogy within engineering education. Future studies are recommended to identify the underlying causes hindering the development of resilience competencies through qualitative interviews and performance-based assessments.