Market demands on construction management: A view from graduate students

Abstract

[EN] The construction industry demands managerial skills for professionals working within it, especially from those having an undergraduate civil engineering degree, which is generally pursued through graduate programs [master of science (M.Sc.) degrees] in the construction management field. This paper checks how graduate students views are relevant in order to assess and improve these M.Sc. programs. The research is performed through a survey based on a sample of 534 graduate students from several American and European universities. Using confirmatory factor analysis with the survey data, it has been corroborated that the construction management field can be mapped according to two dimensions: infrastructure lifecycle and organizational breakdown. Furthermore, by means of an exploratory factor analysis, six components or approaches for a graduate program in the construction management field are highlighted as important by the respondents: leadership, built environment stakeholders, innovation and quality, economics, business management, and project management. The organizational point of view is clearly identified by the students: its four variables are highlighted as principal components. However, regarding the infrastructure lifecycle, certain important facets, such as feasibility analysis and operation and maintenance of infrastructure, are considered by graduate students less important than classical design and construction. The findings of this research can help improve the curricula of graduate programs in the construction management field.