Rationalising built environment education in the UK

This study looks at the silos of learning within the built environment across Universities in the UK, the course content, student perspectives and the requirements of the professional bodies. The UK boasts a large number of Universities delivering courses in the Built Environment, these courses are then broken down into areas including but not limited to Planning, Design, Construction and Surveying. A requirement for many of these accredited courses from the professional bodies is to provide research- informed teaching, yet the research found at the Universities actually crosses a number of these areas leading to commonality in the courses and shared knowledge. Before arriving at Universities students are asked to choose their course and upon arrival begin to think of themselves as belonging to a particular area of the built environment or profession and develop a strong course identity which can then limit their opportunities and the position they see they hold within construction teams. T his study looks at the silos of learning within the built environment across Universities in the UK, the course content, student perspectives and the requirements of the professional bodies. This will then inform further research investigating whether there would be any benefit in offering a common built environment course at undergraduate level with the opportunity for students to specialize later in their studies.