Today, active efforts are underway around the world to build infrastructure to improve society's quality of life. At the same time, it is essential that this infrastructure also protects people from natural disasters and to achieve coexistence between human activities and the environment. While infrastructure development helps create economic vitality, around the world there is a demand for the knowledge to advance long-term maintenance and repairs to infrastructure while also maintaining economic performance. As we aim to realize a society capable of sustainable development in the 21st century, there is a need for diverse solutions spanning across national boundaries, including infrastructure systems, public design for various structures, disaster-prevention technologies, environmental protection and revitalization, and the recycling of resources.

This course trains global human resources to take part in infrastructure projects such as these. Its students learn technologies related to the design, construction, maintenance, repair, and revitalization of the facilities that serve as the base for building the spaces and environments essential to safe and comfortable living, based on the principles of civil engineering. They also become familiar with the basic scholarship needed to create infrastructure that can coexist with nature. In this way, the course trains human resources suited to the globalization of technology, able to serve as engineers and researchers who possess abundant creativity, logical thinking, international understanding, and communication abilities.

To achieve the above objectives, starting from the 2012 academic year we have begun an internationalization program for the course, the first in any undergraduate program at Hokkaido University. Under this program, many courses are taught in English. Together with this, we also actively send students to study abroad and accept exchange students from leading universities overseas. It is hoped that students who have completed the undergraduate international program will advance to graduate school, where even more education is offered in English.