Enhancing the graduates’ employability and career development through building information modelling intensive training

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an emerging technological process which highly promotes a better collaborative working environment in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. It is essential that the Higher Education (HE) sector innovates its education system to integrate between different disciplines in the AEC industry to encourage the adoption of BIM. In conjunction with this, BIM Intensive Training was conducted for a selected number of final year undergraduate students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. They were assigned a real time construction project, utilizing BIM software applications for model authoring, model review, 4D modelling and project coordination. It was observed that the participants were able to overcome various challenges through information sharing and team collaboration. A BIM coordination workflow was produced during the training to assist them in organizing their work. Although their existing knowledge of BIM and their skills using the software applications were quite limited, they were capable in learning expeditiously as the assignment provided them with real-world problems. A year after the training, more than half of the participants agreed that the training had helped them to secure their employment and excel in their current involvements in BIM-based projects. However, due to the current scenario many firms are yet to embrace BIM, there are participants who could not utilize the training. Hence, the establishment of a dynamic and continuous collaboration between professionals and HE sector is the way forward in transforming the traditional structure of AEC industry into a more collaborative and technological approach.