Guideline for Building Information Modeling in Construction Engineering and Management Education

摘要

The use of building information modeling (BIM) has exploded in the construction industry over the last 5 years. With this growth has emerged a realization that BIM may affect every course taught in construction engineering and management (CEM). Although BIM is becoming pervasive in the industry, it seems that on the whole, BIM adoption in construction education lags behind industry adoption. In a survey of general contractors in the southeast conducted in 2007, approximately 70% responded that they are either using or considering using BIM in their companies, and 75% considered students with BIM skills as having an advantage over candidates who did not in the job market (Azhar et al. 2008). According to the 2009 McGraw Hill Survey (Young et al. 2009), almost 50% of the construction industry is using BIM, and its adoption will increase and will expect positive returns from the use of BIM technology. This is in stark contrast to a 2009 survey of 45 Associate Schools of Construction (ASC), in which "only one institution reported that its program offers BIM as a stand-alone course. BIM is incorporated in other courses in 9% of programs" (Sabongi 2009). Most recently, Becerik-Gerber et al. (2011) identified that most of the CEM programs have recently started offering BIM courses, whereas 57% of the engineering programs and 36% of the construction management programs still do not offer BIM courses at the undergraduate level. According to Becerik-Gerber et al. (2011), "only slightly over half of all programs offer BIM courses and almost one fifth of all programs still do not have any plans to offer BIM courses."