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Surveying a reconstructed education landscape

A diverse field: surveying and property courses offer students a broad and flexible education with a range of valuable and transferable Skills. PHOTOGRAPH: ISTOCKPHOTO

Surveying and property courses offer students a broad and flexible education

Courses at IT colleges are designed for flexibility in the later stages of degrees Before the property crash, surveying

courses were hugely popular with school-leavers. But it

wasn’t long after the collapse that demand plummeted. Now, the Society of Chartered Surveyors

Ireland (SCSI), as well as employers in the building industry,

say that there is a major skills shortage and that graduates

coming on stream in the next four years will have excellent

employment prospects. Is it time for students to look at opportunities

in surveying again?

What has changed? “The numbers dropped too much and now the property and construction sectors have a shortage,” explains Tom Dunne, head of the school of surveying and construction management at the Dublin Institute

of Technology (DIT). “This is good news for graduates

in the profession now; even with a verv conservative esti-

mate where the industry doesn’t boom but merely returns

to normal, there will be a shortage of skilled staff, and consequently many jobs, for years to come.”

Last month in its report, the SCSI pointed to a serious shortage

of suitably qualified graduates in the construction industry, estimating that there will

be at least 1,100 new employment opportunities over the

next four years; however, if the economy is particularly strong, this figure could more than double.

Likewise, there is a projected shortfall of 626 vacancies in property surveying and, at a conservative estimate, 290 building surveying jobs with no suitably qualified graduates.

What if there’s another property crash? Property and construction

courses offer students a broad and flexible education with a range of valuable and transferable

skills, says Dunne. “After the property crash, property and construction graduates either

worked abroad on construction industry jobs or found

jobs in other sectors. A graduate from property and construction

courses has transferable skills, with a background in finance,

economics, project management, construction technology,

and law. This broad range of subjects makes them highly employable. Many graduates work outside the construction sector, in sectors including teaching, medicine, sales, banking

and finance, and high-tech IT companies - indeed, we have lots of graduates with interesting

trajectories in IT. These are vocational courses and graduates

are well-placed to compete with people who have arts or business degrees.”

What courses are available in surveying and property? There are four main areas of study: Property and valuers: graduates

from these courses generally work in the commercial or

residential property sector as agents or managers. Quantity surveying: surveyors

are responsible for costing and managing a construction job, including legal and contractual

issues and often act as project managers.

Building surveying: this area educates the technologists responsible

for inspecting buildings and ensuring compliance

with building control, fire and safety regulations. Land surveying: a highly technical field, graduates map the built and natural environment

to provide accurate spatial data.

Surveying courses are available at Level 6 and 7 as well as

Level 8, so students with com-

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paratively low CAO points can start off with a higher certificate

or ordinary degree and then move up the ladder.

“This flexibility works well, particularly for those unsure of committing to a four-year degree

initially and for mature students who often have many other

things to juggle,” says Tomas Murphy, a chartered surveyor and lecturer at Galway-Mayo Institute

of Technology (GMIT). “Students can progress from a three-year ordinary degree to the final year of an honours degree

if they have the right marks (a 60 per cent grade point average from year three). This tends to rebalance any issues

of lower Leaving Cert points through the higher cert and ordinary degree route while maintaining progression opportunity.”

Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) offers flexible options. Their Level 7 BSc in construction

is a three-year programme, in which students follow a common

curriculum in years one and two before choosing either the bachelor of science in construction

management or the bachelor of science in quantity surveying, in year three. Crucially,

suitably qualified graduates may apply for entry to year

four of either the BSc (Hons) in construction management or the BSc (Hons) in quantity surveying.

Students at IT Carlow can also progress from Level 7 to Level 8 on a range of surveying

courses. Courses are also on offer at

Waterford Institute of Technology, Limerick Institute of Technology

and Letterkenny Institute of Technology.

Where are the jobs? A major draw of the surveying profession is the regional spread of jobs, says Zoe O’Connor,

director of education at the SCSI. “Students have a strong desire to work in their region and, with work and courses available throughout Ireland, around one third of the jobs are Dublin-based with the rest dispersed

nationwide, including 13 per cent in the southwest and 12 per cent in the mideast.”

It should be noted that surveying is a highly mobile profession. Students can work

nationally or internationally, but can also be self-employed or work with a small or medium

sized enterprise. According to Kevin Hollingsworth

of Omega Surveying Services new building control regulations

will create hundreds of job opportunities over the next few years.

“Because builders can no longer self-certify, an independent

certifier must sign-off on developments and complete a certificate

of compliance to the local authority.”

Only Dundalk IT currently offers a BSc (Hons) course in

building surveying. With just 84 places and a conservative estimate

the industry will need at least 290 surveyors, graduate employment prospects look strong.

What's new? These courses are dynamic and responsive to the needs of both students and industry. At IT Sligo,

the final year of the quantity surveying degree can now be studied online over two years, allowing students to undertake it anywhere in the world at their own pace. As languages grow in importance to employers, DIT is now offering German with its quantity surveying degree. And from 2015, students on Letterkenny

IT’s quantity surveying course will be eligible to enter thenewLevel 8 degree.

Transition year programme

When the Sherry FitzGerald group decided to puta more formal structure on the transition year programme the firm was running, they had little idea how popular the move would be. What started out in 2007 as single week's programme for around 15 students is now an oversubscribed programme run three ti mes a year with a total of 120 students participating.

“The idea was to give students a really good idea of what it was like to work in the firm so they get see all of the functions and departments here,” explains Siobhan Broderick, HR Generalist at the Sherry FitzGerald group. “They get presentations from managers from Monday to Wednesday, on Thursday they get work experience in branches while on the Friday

they get advice on their CVs and i nterview ski lls." 0 ne of the more popularfeatures with students is a mock auction session where they get to use the gavel.

“On day one we take a show of hands as to how many students would considers career in property. That number rises steadily when we ask them again at the end of the week," says Broderick.

With the supply of graduates drying up, the programme

is promoting property as a career option and in what the company hopes will be a sign of things to come, one of the participants

from the first transition year programme recently joined the firm as a graduate trainee.

The SCSI in conjunction with surveying firms across the country also offers a range of schools initiatives to give students a taste of what surveying is about. “Surveyors

call out to schools around the country and talk to students about whythey chose this profession and what it's like to work as a surveyor. Due to the strong support of firms we are also in a position to offer second-level

students really great work placements right across the country,” says SCSI Schools and Colleges Liaison Officer SCSI, Catherine

Noble.