AEC Schools Should Start Teaching Collaboration in College

Two weeks ago the co-chairs of the National AIA-AGC joint committee released a statement calling for more instruction in cooperation among architects, engineers, and contractors. They highlight the industry’s growing adoption of cooperative methods such as design-build, design-assist, integrated project delivery, building information modeling and lean construction as a “crying out for increased collaboration.”

In recognizing these changes, AIA-AGC has declared collaboration a major priority and are asking all members of the design and construction industry-especially the academic community-to focus on empathy, trust, and collaboration.

The joint council statement mentions that only approximately 20% of the 140 architecture programs and 180 construction programs share the same campus. They go on to say that,

“[w]hile collaboration is undoubtedly occurring at some of these schools, in tomorrow’s world the demand for interdisciplinary education and training will be much greater. Universities must make a concerted effort to be more collaborative in their approach to educating these future partners in the construction industry. Further, these schools must teach in a way that makes collaboration a core competency, not merely an admirable quality.”

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know the importance that we place on collaboration as the means to improve your project’s bottom line. We’ve highlighted the ways that collaboration improves your time here, here, and here – just to point out a few. As part of our plans to help improve collaboration, we have started partnering with colleges and universities to provide Touchplan for free to students learning about collaboration. If you are interested in learning more about this program let us know.

We are really excited to see that more in our field recognize the important role collaboration plays in successful projects. 

Here is the full article from the Engineering News-Record.