The Project

Six universities from the three NAFTA member nations have joined forces to address NAFTA cross-border corridor issues by establishing collaborative projects, exchanging 42 engineering students, and transforming curriculums (including an interactive Web portal) in specialized study areas. The intent is to carry out a multimodal, integrated transportation curriculum development plan for North America. Proposed by the university consortium, this project aims to educate future transportation and logistics engineers by providing students with the skills, knowledge, and cultural-language experiences required for professional development. Moreover, it aims to produce graduates who can contribute to safe, cost-effective, and environmentally sound transportation. The project intends to work within the framework of each university’s mission.

The partners include:

After the initial agreements in early 2006, representatives from these universities held several virtual meetings before meeting as a group from March 1-2, 2007, in Guanajuato, Mexico, to fine-tune this project. The partners received funding from HRSDC (Canadian partners), FIPSE (American partners) and PROMESAN (Mexican partners).

Project Summary

Background

With the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on January 1, 1994, Canada, the United States and Mexico moved to eliminate trade obstacles and facilitate cross-border circulation of goods and services. However, many problems persist with regard to the logistics, transport infrastructure and operations involved.

When NAFTA came into effect, the outlook for highway transport was not very encouraging, since each country had developed its highway networks according to its own particular objectives. In the U.S., the interstate highway system was initially designed to connect cities and military bases across the nation, and in general not with the objective of facilitating the flow of merchandise with neighbouring countries. Meanwhile, Canada pursued its highway development policies with a focus on connecting the eastern and western parts of the country. Finally, highway development in Mexico focused on connecting Mexico City with state capitals and border cities. This is why its transportation network is so notably centralized.

Currently, the NAFTA signees are still calling for solutions to the problems pertaining to transport logistics and the state of infrastructure (trade corridor administration systems, safety and accident prevention, dealing with incidents and emergencies, electronic payment of tolls and other duties, trip planning information, etc.). The university consortium is working together on a whole new set of initiatives and solutions to address the NAFTA trade corridor issues. The plan includes training engineers, launching specific targeted programs for industry representatives, and generating a critical mass of research and development specialists who can address the transportations challenges across the three member countries.

 

Project Objectives and Strategies

The main purpose of the project is to enhance the skills and knowledge of students and professors in the areas of transportation and logistics engineering. We hope to produce university graduates with an international vision for solving problems related to the increased traffic between NAFTA member nations while minimizing negative energy and environmental impacts. Student exchanges and faculty collaboration on curriculums will focus on the latest and most pressing topics being examined in transportation work at North American research centres, among others: e-logistics in international trade, hybrid transportation, intelligent transportation, just-in-time delivery, rail, shipping, transportation asset management, travel forecasting, and truck transportation. Student mobility will promote increased knowledge of the transportation and logistics issues that exist in the NAFTA member countries. It will also enable graduates to work in multicultural environments, further develop intellectual abilities and, above all, foster respect for other cultures and social responsibility. 

Briefly, the project comprises the following:

Student Exchanges: In order to enable student engineers specializing in transportation and logistics to become familiar with the cultures and languages, issues and visions of each NAFTA member country, it is expected that the partners will exchange a minimum of 14 students per year, resulting in a total of 42 exchange students (7 students per institution).

Curriculum Development: A number of existing courses will be modified in the targeted undergraduate civil, transportation and logistics engineering programs, in order to address problems pertaining to NAFTA. 

A multi-disciplinary “NAFTA Transportation and Logistics Certificate” program will be created. It will integrate the notions of infrastructure and operating costs, multimodal transportation alternatives, e-logistics, risk management and asset management, among many others, with a particular emphasis on environmental and energy considerations.

Short-stay collaborative activities for engineering faculty members will enhance continued collaboration on pressing topical NAFTA issues, thus influencing course curriculums and research potential. 

Web Portal for Problem Solving: The project will also include an online problem-solving platform for interested students (working individually or in teams) on the different campuses. The platform will also serve as a national model for addressing transportation and logistics engineering issues.

Expected Outcomes

As a result of this initiative, it is expected that participating students will acquire the following new knowledge, skills and attitudes:

  1. Intermodal transportation systems (strengths and weaknesses of each type)
  2. Rules and regulations governing transportation and logistics in each NAFTA country and solutions pertaining to some of these limitations (e.g. driving time and weight)
  3. Energy and environmental impact of transporting products with alternative transportation methods
  4. Transportation asset management in North America
  5. Key challenges pertaining to transportation in each NAFTA country (energy, environment, congestion, safety, pavement deterioration, etc.)
  6. Technology and computer software in the fields of transportation and logistics
  7. Knowledge and respect of other cultures
  8. Proficiency in at least one other language
  9. Entrepreneurial spirit with a global perspective, helping all three NAFTA countries to become more competitive on a global scale
  10. Encouragement for participating students to engage in graduate studies in a topic related to NAFTA transportation and logistics
  11. Enhanced mobility and employability of participating students upon graduation