Since 2009 the course “Infrastructure Management” has been given for students of the master programme Construction Management and Engineering at the University of Twente. The focus of this course is on the life-cycle management of infrastructure assets. The course provides the basic concepts and tools to procure and preserve infrastructure systems most cost-effectively. It shows how to prevent costly deterioration of infrastructure and to ensure an acceptable performance level of infrastructure. The course covers the development of effective maintenance and rehabilitation strategies for portfolios of infrastructure assets as well as the planning and procurement of single maintenance and rehabilitation projects. It particularly addresses the dynamic relationship of economical, organisational and quality issues during the life cycle of infrastructure.
Part of the course is a role play to let students work on infrastructure management issues. The students are asked to put themselves in two roles: the role of a province responsible for the management of road infrastructure and the role of an engineering firm supporting the province. There are several assignments the students in their role as engineering firms had to work on. In their role as province they have to give feedback on the assignments of their peers. The assignments include:
- formulating possible objectives for the management of the road bridges and suggesting a measurement system that is able to determine whether the objectives have been achieved;
- prioritizing road bridges for interventions;
- investigating failure modes, causes and consequences of road bridges;
- determining the deterioration of road bridges;
- determining intervention strategies with the best cost-benefit ratio for the bridge stakeholders and which are in line with the objectives formulated for the bridge;
The course also includes a number of serious games that allow students to apply their knowledge and to experience the complexity of infrastructure management decisions.
Two serious games played