Manthe, M F and Smallwood, J J (2008) An overview of the appropriateness of tertiary built environment education in South Africa. In: Dainty, A (ed.) Proceedings of 24th Annual ARCOM Conference, 1-3 September 2008, Cardiff, UK.
Abstract
Construction is a complex process which requires the co-ordination of and co-operation of the skills and services of various built environment disciplines. The effective integration of these skills determines the success of the project. However, built environment students continue to receive discipline-based education. Furthermore, an outdated tertiary built environment education system is challenged by academics, built environment practitioners and the public in the form of media reports. A homogenous, internationally acceptable tertiary built environment education program, directed at commonality, consistency, coordination, cooperation and standardization using cost effective high-technology methods of delivery to enhance the interest, retention, empowerment and control of large groups is the overall aim of the study. A questionnaire developed from literature related to the diverse content, interconnectedness, cohesion, appropriateness, empowering effect, delivery methods and quality assurance of built environment education was used to obtain data from a sample of nine stakeholder groups within the built environment arena. An analysis of the data indicates that there is a perceived need for both universities and universities of technology programs; built environment tertiary education is relatively diverse in terms of content; there is a perceived need for a common first year and common subjects at other levels, and there is a trend towards perpetuation of traditional technologies, practices and systems within built environment education. The culmination of the study is the development of a template which comprises five components directed towards the advancement of tertiary built environment education. The template takes cognizance of the hypotheses, the findings and comments and is validated by a group selected in their capacity as subject specialists or representatives of primary built environment stakeholders.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | appropriateness; built environment; tertiary education |
| Index terms: | cohesion, delivery method, quality assurance, tertiary, empowerment, retention, cooperation, South Africa, coordination, integration, standardization, program, practitioner, built environment, media, built environment education, questionnaire |
| Subjects: | Geography, professional development, management, performance measurement, structural engineering, software systems, infrastructure and transport systems, quality assurance, organizational analysis, delivery method, sociology, practitioner, data collection methods, curriculum development, psychology |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Digital Applications, Quality Management, Human Resources, Education, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Engineering Principles, Roles and Professions, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here