Student attitudes towards cooperative construction education experiences

Haupt, T C (2003) Student attitudes towards cooperative construction education experiences. Construction Economics and Building, 3(1), pp. 31-42. ISSN 2204-9029

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of a study that examined the attitudes of students at a historically disadvantaged institution (HOI) compared with those at a previously advantaged institution (PAl) in South Africa. PAis in South Africa have been almost exclusively white in the past while HOls have been predominantly black-both with respect to their academic staffing and student population. It is argued that higher education institutions have given students in general too little that will be of real value beyond a credential that will help them get their first jobs. The opinions of first year students were surveyed before, and third and final year students after, their practical periods of employment in construction. The study concludes that all the cooperative partners in cooperative education can do much more to improve this approach to construction education.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: cooperative education; employment; experiential training; higher education; practical experience
Index terms: employment, higher education, higher education institution, South Africa, first-year student, population, construction education
Subjects: Geography, educational institutions, curriculum design, management, professional education, demography
Topics: Urban Studies, Geographical Context, Education, Human Resources
Descriptive scope: 2 PC

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