As a graduate with a BSc in surveying I can sympathise with your report on the non-technical ability of graduates.

However, I was fortunate enough to complete my degree on a five-year part-time course, balancing my studies with on-site practical experience. Some modules were attended by a mix of full-time and part-time students, and the lack of technical knowledge in the full-time students was noticeable, not so much in the ability to measure using SMM7 but in the understanding of what was being measured. In order to value a piece of work is it not necessary to understand how it is built, not just the quantity of parts?

Can I also suggest that the compiler of your technical quiz in the 27 May edition may also be the product of a management-related degree? Your answer to question 8 is incorrect: the answer of 3.46 m is not the length of a hip rafter, but rather the length of a standard rafter. The hip rafter is actually 4.90 m long calculated as: ((3/cos45)/cos30).

Simon Morrall, assistant QS, sdc

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