Reunion for first JTH construction engineering students

The School of Engineering's first construction engineering students have had a reunion at the school. Among other things, they were told how their programme has developed since they graduated 25 years ago.

It has been 25 years since the first construction engineering students graduated from the School of Engineering (JTH) in Jönköping. One of the classes celebrated with a reunion at JTH on 26 May.

“My education at JTH has been incredibly important for my career; it was a gateway straight into the construction industry,” says Andreas Wennblom, Team leader and acoustician at Forcit Consulting Sweden, who took part in the reunion.

The participants of the reunion are in this picture from 1998 together with other JTH students. Photo: Ulf Wennerberg

The reunion was attended by alumni from the Civil Engineering and Infrastructure programme specializing in land construction who graduated in 1998. There were originally 26 students in the class of which 22 came to JTH.

“There was a very good turnout, and we were a nice class with good cohesion. Several of us are still in contact and we help each other if someone is looking for staff or needs support in a project,” says Andreas Wennblom.

Most of them are in the construction industry

Most of the alumni are working in the construction industry and among them are company managers, self-employed people and project managers. As an acoustician, Andreas Wennblom works, among other things, with noise reduction on roads, homes and schools and with amplifying the sound in cinema and theater halls.

“Without my education from JTH, I would not have got the jobs I have had. I myself have hired ten, twelve students from JTH, so it has been an important recruitment base for us at Forcit. I know many people in the construction industry who do the same. It is a good school and if someone has gone through roughly the same education as you, you know what they are about.”

During the visit, the participants met a number of JTH students, and Andreas hoped that they were inspired by his and his fellow alumni’s tales of life as an engineer.

"Extra fun"

The Civil engineering and Infrastructure programme is today called Construction Engineering: Building Engineering/Civil Engineering.

The programme manager is Thomas Olsson, who also hosted the day. He told the participants about how the programme has developed over the years and showed them around JTH, the University Library and the new Science Park Towers that is being built next to Jönköping University.

“Meeting old students is always fun and meeting the very first Construction students is extra fun. It is interesting to hear where they ended up after graduation and what they are working on today,” says Thomas Olsson.

Several of the construction engineering students that graduated 1998 are still in contact and help each other with, among other things, personnel matters.