Barriers to the incorporation of BIM into quantity surveying undergraduate curriculum in the Nigerian universities

Abstract

Purpose

In developing countries, adoption of building information modelling (BIM) concept within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) curricula in universities is a relatively new effort, and subsequently, studies on the status of BIM implementation in universities are rare. This study, therefore, becomes imperative with a view to identifying and examining the barriers to the incorporation of BIM into quantity surveying (QS) undergraduate curriculum in Nigerian universities.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a questionnaire survey, which was targeted at the academia and students from two selected universities offering QS honours degree programme. Data collected were analysed using mean score, Mann–Whitney test and factor analysis.

Findings

The study identified 30 barriers, and the analysis of the ranking revealed that 17 (out of 30) identified barriers were considered as the most serious barriers. The study, through factor analysis, grouped the 30 identified barriers into six major factors.

Practical implications

The findings provide greater insights and empirical evidence on the major barriers to implementation of BIM education in developing countries.

Originality/value

The identified barriers are relevant not only to QS education but also to other related disciplines within the AEC context. These findings would be of great value to academic staff and university management board to develop strategies for incorporating BIM into AEC disciplines curricula in developing countries at large.

Citation

Babatunde, S.O. and Ekundayo, D. (2019), "Barriers to the incorporation of BIM into quantity surveying undergraduate curriculum in the Nigerian universities", Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 629-648. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-10-2018-0181