Expectations of Construct Final

8/3/2019 Expectations of Construct Final

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Competencies Expected by Construction Industry from Pass-outs of

Diploma Programme in Civil Engineering A Case Study S. K. Gupta*Dr.K. M. Rastogi**

1. Introduction

By the year 2020, Indias population would be around 1.34 billion. India will needhousing for over 265 million households and a supportive infrastructure. To achievesuch gigantic task, the construction industry will play an important role in the processof economic development and growth of a developing country. It requires a scientificapproach for appropriate management of men, materials, machines, money and aboveall motivation. The construction industry spans a wide range of activities: theconstruction of infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, dams, ports and airports;industrial construction, such as the building of factories, industrial complexes andpower plants; real estate development, such as the construction of housing, offices,cinema houses, shopping complexes, etc. and construction services like design, project management and consulting. The construction sector is one of the largestemployers in the country. As per ninth five-year plan, in 1999-2000, it employed

17.62 million workers, a rise of 6 million over 1993-94. The sector also recorded thehighest growth rate in generation of jobs in the last two decades, doubling its share intotal employment. The share of construction sector in gross domestic product (GDP),which was 5.4 per cent in 1970-71, came down to 4.4 per cent in 1990-91.Subsequently it picked up and stood at 5.1 per cent in 1999-2000.

The construction industry alone will create more than 17 lakh employmentopportunities during the 11th plan period, as projected by Rajeeva Ratna Shah,Member Secretary, Planning Commission. The planning commission estimates sevenmillion job opportunities during the 11th Plan period and at least a good 20 to 25percent of that will emanate from the construction sector alone. The country would

require investments to the tune of $320 million over five to seven years to meet thedemands of this sector, he felt. Shah also emphasized the criticality of forging public- private partnerships (PPPs) in the infrastructure sector as they hold the key forachieving our goals.

Construction industry is undergoing a booming phase these days. With a largenumber of MNCs having invested and many more are in the process of investing inIndia, infrastructural requirement has suddenly gone up many fold and that is why,Indian society has witnessed unprecedented boost in Construction industry in last fiveyears or so. The demand of engineers, especially of Civil Engineers has gone uptremendously in last couple of years. To keep pace with infrastuctural development,the optimum use of resources at hand should be made. The most precious resource isthe man himself and therefore Human Resource training assumes a far greaterimportance in todays environment not only to maintain a high standard of qualityand timely construction but also to advance further on technology pedestal to meetday to day challenges that may lie ahead.

*Assistant Professor, Curriculum Development Centre, NITTTR Chandigarh


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** Prof. & Head, Curriculum Development Centre, NITTTR Chandigarh

So it is of great concern to all those involved in planning, organizing, directing,implementing, controlling, and managing diploma programme in civil engineeringthat this programme is effective and efficient for better employability of civilengineering students coming out of diploma level institutions. The concern is notonly to maintain the quality of product of civil engineering programme but also tostrive for bringing improvements in the programme so as to make them relevant tothe world of work in the context of changing needs of technical manpower in terms of professional, individual and social needs as well as changes occurring incommunication technology, organized body of knowledge and skills and the fields ofpedagogy and andragogy. Hence it was considered worthwhile to obtain view pointof some experienced professionals from the field of civil engineering on the essentialcompetencies expected from diploma holders in civil engineering and develop thesame in the students so that they get gainful employment (wage as well as self). Dueto limitations of resources, the study contains view-point from major civil engineeringrelated employers from north India only.

2. Objectives of the study:

The major objectives of the study were:

i) Identification of essential competencies expected from CivilEngineering Diploma Holders as perceived by construction industryii) To recommend very essential/essential competencies need to beconsidered while designing curriculum of diploma programme of CivilEngineering.

3. Methodology used in the study:

Survey research design was applied for conducting this study. A questionnairewas designed by the authors and got it validated from senior teachers and fieldengineers engaged in Civil Construction Works. Relevant information wascollected through this structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was mailed to50 professionals in the field of Civil Engineering. In total, 30 professionalsresponded. The data received through questionnaire was analyzed and percentageresponses against each competency were worked out. This was followed bypersonal interviews with 10 professionals from the field of Civil Engineering tovalidate the written responses.

4. Research findings:

As mentioned in section 3, the respondents were asked to provide their opinion onthe essential competencies expected from Civil Engineering Diploma Holders ona five points scale indicating very essential (5), essential (4), desirable (3), rarelyused (2) and not applicable (1). The competencies required by a diploma engineerhave been divided in six major categories viz investigation; design & drawing;estimating & costing; supervision and management of construction; maintenanceof various civil works and testing and R&D and each individual category has been

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further divided into various enabling competencies. A summary of responses ispresented below:

(i) 44percent responses indicated that competency in conducting atopographical survey is essential while 34 percent said that thiscompetency is very essential

34

44

13

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses

Very Essential Essential Desirable

Conducts Topographical Surveys

(ii) 31percent responses revealed that competency in conducting soilinvestigations is desirable while 41percent said that it is very essential fora Civil Engineering Diploma Holder and 17percent said it is essential only

41

17

31

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Conducts soil investigations

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(iii) 44percent respondents are of the opinion that competency in undertakingsurvey for sources and availability of construction material, site selectionand collection of data is very essential for Civil Engineering Students andfurther 34 percent said it is essential competency only.

44

34

20

010

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Undertakes survey for sources and availability of

construction material, site selecion, collection of data

(iv) 71percent responses said that competency in reading and interpretingmaps and drawing is very essential for Civil Engineering Diploma Holderand 24percent said it is essential only

71

24

5

010

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Reads and interprets maps and drawings

(v) 78percent responses indicated that undertaking detailed survey for CivilEngineering works is very essential competency and 10percent said it isessential only

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78

10 12

0

10

20

30

40

5060

70

80

%age of

Responses


Undertakes detailed survey for civil engineering works

(vi) Competency in design of simple structural elements of masonry and RCCis desirable as indicated by 37 percent responses while only 31 percentsaid it is essential and 20 percent said it is very essential

20

3137

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Design of simple structural elements of masonary

and RCC

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(vii) Similarly 34 percent responses revealed that design of simple structuralelements of timber and steel is desirable while only 17 percent said it isvery essential

17 17

34

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Design of simple structural elements of Timber and Steel

(viii) 47percent responses indicated that it is essential for students to havecompetency in preparing the drawings for simple buildings, public healthengineering works and roads while 30 percent said that this competency isdesirable only.

17

47

30

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Prepares drawings for simple buildings, public health

engineering works and roads

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(ix) 37percent responses revealed that competency in preparing drawing forsimple irrigation structures is desirable only while 30percent said that thiscompetency is rarely used.

13

37

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Prepares drawings for simple irrigation structures

(x) In case of competency in preparing plans and sections for roads andchannels for construction and maintenance, 30 percent respondents saidthat it is essential competency while other 30 percent are of the opinionthat it is desirable only

2630 30

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Prepares plans and sections for roads and channels forconstruction and maintenance

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(xi) Competency in using computer software for preparing designs anddrawings is desirable as indicated by 34 percent responses while only20percent said that it is very essential

20

34

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Uses computer software for preparing designs, drawings

(xii) 40 percent respondents indicated that competency in preparing estimatesfor construction of roads, buildings, public health services and irrigationstructures is very essential while same no. of respondents said it isessential only.

40 40

7

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Prepares estimates for construction of roads, buildings,

public health services, irrigation structures

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(xiii) Ability in preparing valuation of property is essential as indicated by 40percent respondents and 20percent said it is very essential

20

40

13

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Prepares valuation of property

(xiv) 72 percent responses revealed that competency in calculating quantity ofmaterials for various items of work and preparing analysis of rates foritems not given in the schedule of rates is very essential for a diplomaholder in Civil Engineering

72

23

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Calculates quantity of materials for various items of

works & prepares analysis of rates for items not

given in the schedule of rates

(xv) Competency in using of computer software for preparing estimates andcosting is desirable only as indicated by 40 percent respondents.

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1620

40

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Uses Computer soft ware for preparing estimates and

costing

(xvi) 41percent responses revealed that competency in preparing materials,equipment and labour schedules is desirable while 31 percent agree that itis very essential and 27 percent said that this competency is essential.

3127

41

0

10

20

30

40

5060

70

80

%age of

Responses


Prepares materials, equipment and labour schedules

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(xvii) Competency in preparing site layout and set out works and inspectingmaterials of construction is very essential competency as indicated by 54percent respondents and 34 percent said it is essential only

54

34

12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Prepares site layout & set out works and inspects

material of construction

(xviii) Most important competency is supervising earth work, masonry, concrete,RCC, steel, timber, stone construction and repair works as indicated by 75percent responses

75

20

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Supervises earth work, masonary, concrete,RCC, steel,

timber and stone construction and repair works

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(xix) 37 percent responses revealed that ability to prepare bar charts forprogress reports is very essential. 27 percent responses said that it isessential while same percent indicated that it is desirable

37

27 27

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Prepares bar charts for progress reports

(xx) Ability to organize man, material and labour is very essential as indicatedby 44 percent respondents while 41 percent said it is essential.

44 41

10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Organises man, material and labour

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(xxi) The competency in controlling quality of construction material andworkmanship is very essential as indicated by 75 percent respondentswhile 20 percent said it is essential only.

75

20

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses

Very Essential Essential DesirableControls quality of construction material and

workmanship

(xxii) 44 percent respondents agree that ability to ensure proper storing andstacking of construction material is very essential while 51 percent saidthat it is essential

4451

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Ensures proper storing and stacking of construction

materials

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(xxiii) Ability to keep record of progress of works, preparing bills anddistributing wages to workers in his section is very essential as indicatedby 55 percent respondents while 40 percent said it is essential only

55

40

5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Keeps record of progress of works, prepares bills and

distributes wages to workers in his section

(xxiv) 58 percent responses indicated that the competency in preparing progressreports and communicating with his superiors and juniors is very essentialwhile 30 percent said it is essential only

58

30

12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Prepares progress reports and sends the same to

his superiors and communicates with workers and

handles the grievances

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(xxv) 51 percent responses agreed that ability to keep the records of stores andensuring the safety measures is very essential while 41 percent said thatthis competency is essential only

51

41

3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Receives and issues materials and tools, keepstheir records and submits the returns, check

stores and ensures safety measures at the site of

work

(xxvi) The competency in preparing estimates for maintenance of records,buildings, public health services and irrigation structures is very essentialas indicated by 37 percent respondents while 31 percent agreed that it isessential only

3731

19

010

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

%age of

Responses


Prepares estimates for maintenance of roads,

buildings, public health services, irrigation structures

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(xxvii) 40 percent responses revealed that ability to supervise maintenance ofvarious Civil Works is very essential and 48 percent said that thiscompetency is essential only

4048

12

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Supervises maintenance of various civil works

(xxviii) The ability to conduct lab and field tests on construction material and soilis very essential as indicated by 48 percent responses.

48

2026

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

7080

%age of

Responses


Conducts laboratory & fields tests on construction

materils & soil

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5. Recommendations :

Although while designing diploma programme in Civil Engineering, utmost care istaken to develop all the competencies through curriculum demanded by constructionindustry but to reinforce the development of following competencies as per theirimportance, more practical exposure is required to be given to the students in additionto the classroom instructions as detailed below:

(The sum of percentage responses given for each very essential and essentialcompetency is given in bracket.)

1. Competency in reading and interpreting maps and drawings (95percent) and Skillof preparing drawings for simple Buildings, Public Health Engineering Works and Roads(58percent). To develop this competency, students should be given intensive training inreading and interpreting live drawings from the field in addition to preparing CivilEngineering Drawings.

2. Knowledge and skill in calculating quantity of material for various items of worksand preparing analysis of rates for items not given in schedule of rates (95percent). Forthis competency, the students should be given more practice on preparing tenders for theCivil Works in addition to classroom instructions in Quantity Surveying.

3. Knowledge and associated skills to control quality of construction material andworkmanship (95percent) and conducting laboratory and field tests on constructionmaterials (68percent). To develop this competency, the emphasis should be given ontesting the materials in the laboratories of Constructional Material, Concrete Technology,Strength of Materials and Highways Engineering.

4. Knowledge of proper storing and stacking of construction materials; receiving andissuing materials and tools and keeping the records of stores (95percent). To develop thisunderstanding, the students should be taken to the field to explain the importance of

proper storing and stacking of construction materials and keeping the records of stores.

5. Knowledge and associated skill for supervising Earthwork, Masonry, Concrete,RCC, Steel, Timber and Stone construction and Repair Works (95percent). For thiscompetency, the students should be given more exposure to construction of these civilworks in addition to relevant classroom instructions.

6. Ability to keep record of progress of works, prepare bills and distribute wages toworkers in his section (95percent). The students should be given more practice on preparing bills in addition to classroom instructions in the subject of ConstructionManagement and Accounts.

7. Knowledge and associated skills of ensuring safety measures at site of work(92percent). Although this aspect is covered in the subject of Construction Management,but still students should be shown the safety measures being taken on the constructionsite.

8. Ability to undertake detailed survey for Civil Engineering Works (88percent) andtopographical survey (78percent). There are two subjects in surveying in the civil

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engineering diploma programme in addition to survey camp. Major emphasis shouldbe given on practice in surveying

9. Ability to inspect materials of construction (88percent). To develop thiscompetency, more emphasis should be given on the understanding of the characteristicsand suitability of the construction material.

10. Knowledge of preparing progress reports and communicating with superiors,peers and juniors (88percent). This aspect is covered in the subject of ConstructionManagement in addition to project work and more emphasis should be given ontechnical report writing.

11. Competency to supervise the maintenance of various Civil works (88percent) andprepare estimates and costing for maintenance of various Civil Works (68percent). Forthis, a course in repair and maintenance of Civil Works has been included in theCurriculum. Presently much emphasis is not being given on this subject. It requiresspecial focus of the teachers.

12. Competency in preparing site layout and set out works (88percent) Thiscompetency is covered in Building Construction subject. The student should be givenpractice in laying out the works in the field.

13. Knowledge and associated skills for preparing estimates and costing ofconstruction of roads, buildings, public health services and irrigation structures(85percent). This aspect is developed through subject of Quantity Surveying in additionto project work. Major emphasis should be given on practice and some work from thefield should be shown to the students.

14. Competency in organizing man, material and labour (85percent) and knowledge

of preparing materials, equipment and labour schedules (58percent). This competency isdeveloped through subject of Construction Management in addition to minor and majorproject works.

15. Knowledge and skills to undertake survey for sources and availability of construction material, site selection, collection of data (78percent). To develop thiscompetency, more emphasis should be given on the subjects of Construction Materialsand Building Construction.

16. Ability to prepare bar charts for progress reports (65percent). This aspect iscovered in Construction Management and Accounts subject and practice should be given

on solving the problems related to preparing bar charts.

17. Ability to prepare valuation of property (61percent). To develop this competency,emphasis should be given on valuation part of Quantity Surveying and Valuation subject.

18. Competency in conducting soil investigation (57percent). This aspect is coveredin the subject of soil engineering and more emphasis should be given on soil testing in thefield.

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19. Knowledge of designing simple structural elements of R.C.C. (51percent) andTimber and Steel ( 34percent). These aspects are covered in the subjects of RCC andSteel and emphasis should be given on understanding of structural behaviour of the RCCand Steel members.

20. Skill of preparing plans and section for roads & channels for construction and

maintenance (51percent). Subjects of Highway Engineering and Irrigation Engineeringcover these skills and emphasis should be given on the construction and maintenanceaspects of these subjects.

21. Skill of using computer software for preparing estimates and costing (37percent)and preparing design and drawings (20percent). Two subjects on Computer Applicationsin Civil Engineering have been included to take care of these aspects.

22. Skill of preparing drawings for simple irrigation structures (14percent). Thisaspect is covered in the subject of Irrigation Engineering and students should be givensimple drawings of irrigation structures.

The competencies having percentage responses more than 50 percent should be dealtcomprehensively as far as the implementation of curriculum is concerned. It should beensured through a properly devised mechanism of student assessment that thesecompetencies are positively developed in the students of diploma programme in civilengineering so that these diploma engineers are able to take challenges of constructionindustry.

REFERENCES:

1. Prof. R. Subramanian et al. (2000), Education and Training of Building Professionals atDiploma Level, Journal of Indian Buildings Congress.

2. Dr. LN Mittal, PK Singla, SK Gupta (1996), Factors contributing to the unemployment ofdiploma holders in Civil Engineering A Study, The Journal of Engineering Education.

3. AICTE Directory (1995), Institutions approved by All India Council of Technical Education,New Delhi.

4. Planning Commission (1992-97), Eighth Five-Year Plan (Vol. II) Govt. of India, New Delhi.5. Dr. CB Lal and Shri AK Jha (2006), Human Resource Development in Construction

Industry, Journal of Indian Building Congress.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

We are very grateful to the following for responding to our questionnaires and making valuablesuggestions for the successful conduct of the study.

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M/S Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd.,115, Ansal Bhawan, 16, Kasturba Gandhi Marg,New Delhi

M/S Jai Parkash Associates Ltd., JA House, 63, Basant Lok, Vasant Vihar, New Delhi

M/S Engineers India Ltd., Engineeers India Bhavan, 1, Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066

National Building Construction Corporation Ltd., NBCC Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003

National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd., Plot No. 67-68, Sector 25, Faridabad, Haryana

Engineer-in-Chief , Haryana PWD (B&R) Sector-19, Chandigarh-160019

Chief Engineer, PWD B&R Branch, Patiala, Punjab

Chandigarh Housing Board, 8, Jan Marg, Sector 9, Chandigarh

Chief Engineer, Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) Mohali

Superintending Engineer, Water Supply & Sanitation Circle, Ferozpur, Punjab

Superintending Engineer, Water Supply & Sanitation (RWS) Division, Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab

Superintending Engineer, Water Supply & Sanitation (RWS) Division, Gurdaspur, Punjab

Dr. RK Khitoliya, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Punjab Engineering College,Chandigarh

Shri BS Singla, Superintendent Engineer, Haryana PWD (B&R), Sector-7, Chandigarh

Shri Rajan Aggarwal, SDO (Civil), Department of Hospital Engineering, PGIMER, Chandigarh

Dr. DD Sharma, Professor & Head, EDIC, NITTTR, Chandigarh

Shri PK Singla, Assistant Professor, Curriculum Development Centre, NITTTR, Chandigarh

Shri Ganesh Dalvi, Research Scholar, Curriculum Development Centre, NITTTR, Chandigarh

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