This is not altogether surprising given the nature of the profession and the highly practical focus of surveying courses.
It’s also in line with trends that have emerged in various skills reports over the years. While the relevant third-level qualification is essential, work experience prior to graduation is seen as almost equally important. As a consequence, many surveying courses have always included a period of work placement but more and more colleges are now making it a priority to ensure all students get a taste of surveying life before graduation.
Waterford Institute of Technology’s quantity surveying course has included a work placement since its inception some six years ago. “Our students go out on a 30 week placement during the second semester of third year”, says lecturer and placement co-ordinator Anne-Marie O’Connor. “They go to firms both in Ireland and overseas. This year we have some students in New York and last year we had students in Australia, Saudi Arabia and even in Kazakhstan. The placements are mainly with Irish contractors working in those countries.”
According to O’Connor she has little difficulty finding placements for the students. “We have built up relationships with the industry over the years and they are now so strong that we are getting repeat business. We are getting phone calls looking for students to go out on placements. That is reflected in the employment market and our graduates have a choice of jobs this year.”
Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) offers what are known as “sandwich” honours degree programmes in the surveying, property and construction space. These four year programmes incorporate a full year of industrial work placement in third year with the aim of developing property and construction professionals who possess the knowledge, skills and competencies required to work in the property and construction industry. The programmes cover areas such as valuation, measurement, estate agency,property management, investment, development, cost management, research and land-use planning.
“Employers are very positive about it and responsive to it”, says Maria Kyne head of the faculty of applied science, engineering and technology at LIT. “And it’s great for the students as well. When they come back from their placements they are different people. They learn what the world of work is about and what they have to do to survive out in the world.”
In many cases the students end up working with the same firms when they graduate. Indeed, one of the advantages of the placements for employers is that they get to build up relationships with increasingly scarce graduates. “Our problem now is that we can’t supply enough graduates for jobs or students for placements to meet the demand that’s out there. For the next four years or so students who do built environment courses need have no worries about getting a job at the end of them.”
While these programmes and others like them in institutes of technology around the country are aimed at giving students hands-on experience of working for an extended period in a contracting or professional firm, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) has come up with an interesting variation. They are sending large numbers of students to leading estate agencies for two-day assignments to gain a greater understanding of what awaits them when they graduate.
“The construction and property market is absolutely cyclical and we were seeing student numbers going down”, explains DIT BSc real estate (AVEA) programme chair Declan McKeown. “There were fears that the firms were going to have difficulty recruiting graduates as a result. We saw this as a good opportunity to get people out in to the sector. We made contact with Lisney and DTZ Sherry FitzGerald and got a good reception from both of them. We now have linkages with both firms where students go in to them for two days and shadow professionals who are carrying out building inspections, showing properties and so on. It’s not a placement. What it does is give the students exposure to a real workplace. In the coming years we hope to have every class linked to an outside firm.”
The college also offers longer term placements to students on its quantity surveying and construction economics courses. “Up until quite recently we didn’t offer sandwich years but with the decline in construction and property we had to look at our courses and what we were offering”, says Alan Hore, assistant head of the school of surveying and construction management at DIT.
“Our students now do a 30 credit placement from June to September during third year. We redesigned the programme to allow for placements and it is very career-oriented. While they are out on placement, the students keep a diary and replicate the process of assessment of professional competence which they have to go through after graduation if they want to become chartered surveyors. This is very beneficial to them.”
