VicRoads: A state road authority in transition

VicRoads is a leading State Road Authority expert in the management of road infrastructure and the traffic that uses it. The organisation is well advanced in a transition from a provider of services to a purchaser of services. This transition naturally involves a re-examination of engineering knowledge requirements in the organisation and also raises questions of the type of engineering education required, particularly when management, financial control and quality management issues are considered. For the information of engineering educators and organisations this paper attempts to provide a description of the background considerations confronting VicRoads, a medium-size government organisation, as it moves forward into a purchaser role in the late 1990s. It also endeavours to provide some views on the role and activities of the organisation, as well as an understanding of its relationship with institutions involved in the development of human resources in engineering, such as the UNESCO International Centre for Engineering Education (UICEE).