Figures released last week by university admissions body UCAS show that just 2,510 students were accepted onto full-time building and surveying degrees in 2013, while the number of fellow undergraduates accepted onto architecture courses was 4,265.
But in 2008, before the impact of the credit crunch and the £9,000-a-year fee regime, the two groups were of roughly equal size: 4,465 in UCAS category K2 Building and 4,247 in K1 Architecture.
The trend of the intervening years – see graph below – show that architecture dipped mid-recession but then recovered, while building and surveying has declined steadily.
Category K2 includes degrees in Building Surveying, Quantity Surveying, Building Technology, Building, Construction Management and Conservation of Buildings. K1 includes Architectural Technology and Interior Architecture.
The 2013 figures were released in UCAS’s annual End of Cycle report. They exclude part-time students, likely to make up a sizable proportion in many building faculties, although this number has also declined since 2008 as employers cut down on sponsored degree opportunities.
UCAS: students accepted for building and architecture degrees
Recent years have also seen more interest in part-time foundation degrees and Higher Apprenticeships. Nevertheless, the figures will be seen as worrying evidence of a future skills gap in construction management as well as a training imbalance weighted towards architecture.
Mark Thompson, managing partner of architect Ryder, commented: “The news from UCAS perfectly highlights the need for the industry to face up to the fact it is no longer appealing to the bright youngsters of today. We need to radically reform the way we are structured; it will be a long journey but one that must start with education.”
Ryder has been championing a proposed new degree that would, in effect, put all K1 and K2 students – along with some engineering students – on the same integrated course before they choose their final specialisation (see our feature). “The proposed new BEng Property, Architecture, Construction, Environment (PACE), aims to … allow students to experience a range a disciplines before committing to their chosen career,” said Thompson.
The figures also coincide with publication of the latest Construction Skills Network report from the CITB, which forecasts that the industry will need to recruit 182,000 individuals between 2014 and 2018, or 36,400 on average a year.
This projected Annual Recruitment Requirement (ARR) is an increase on the ARR reported in last year’s CSN report, of 20,950, reflecting a better prognosis for construction output. The ARR represents projected increases in demand plus the numbers needed to compensate for "churn" in employment: retirement, death or moving out of the industry.
In comparison, in 2012 the CSN was reporting an industry-wide ARR of 46,240, and the ARR reached around 90,000 in the boom years.
Last year, the forecast ARR for construction managers was 3,190, down from 3,380 in 2012. This year, the category has been split across three categories: senior, executive and business process managers, construction project managers and other construction process managers. The combined ARR for all three has risen slightly to 3,350, including an ARR of 400 for construction project managers.
Meanwhile, the ARR for architects is 290, and for surveyors the figure is 340.
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