Civil engineering is one of the most representative traditional engineering specializations. It is of great practical significance to formulate a reasonable curriculum program for civil engineering undergraduate in order to train high-quality talents and promote the construction of emerging engineering education. By means of comparative analysis, this paper expounds the core contents of the undergraduate training program of civil engineering in the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC), especially the principles and provisions of the curriculum system. It is found that the proportion of professional theory courses is 52.3%, with special emphasis on the setting of tool courses (such as engineering mathematics and computer language). The core curriculum of the major is divided into ten fields (including seven traditional fields: construction technology and management, building materials, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, transportation engineering, water resources engineering and science; three interdisciplinary fields: energy-water-environment sustainability, social risk management, sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems). It is stipulated that two different fields shall be selected as major fields and minor fields at the same time. The course of writing principles and scientific and technological writing has been set up, emphasizing the cultivation of scientific and technological writing ability. The teacher consultant system is advocated, and teachers are encouraged to provide all-round consultation and guidance for students in the whole process. The training program of UIUC civil engineering reflects the following characteristics: the careful division of courses ensures the difficulty and depth of course teaching, the flexible and operational course selection of the curriculum system, the selection of major and minor fields gives consideration to the depth and breadth of professional knowledge, and the hard provisions of the preparatory courses ensure the effective connection of the curriculum system, the freshman’s formulation of the curriculum arrangement plan needs for multi-level endorsement by the university to prevent students from blindly selecting courses. It has a reference role in optimizing the talent training mode, improving the talent training quality, and promoting the education and teaching reform of civil engineering undergraduate major in China.