Students start to shun building

Set against the background of a 7.8% overall rise in full-time university applicants to UK universities and colleges, the drop in applicants for building-related degrees, including construction management, building surveying and quantity surveying, also contrasts with increased interest in architecture, maths and journalism.

‘The recession is likely to blame,’ said Dr Andrew Platten, head of the school of built environment at Leeds Metropolitan University. ‘Candidates may have been looking at job prospects and reading the newspapers, which has put them off and forced them to look at other alternatives. My worry is our part-time undergraduate programmes, we don’t want to have to close the door on first-year students because of lack of interest.’

Meanwhile, new graduates seeking work will have to contend with 16.6% fewer vacancies at construction firms during 2009, according to a survey from the Association of Graduate Recruiters, an organisation whose members include Costain, BAM Construct and EC Harris.

The sharp drop in construction vacancies compares to an overall decrease in graduate job opportunities across all sectors of 5.4% in 2009. This represents the first time the AGR has recorded a drop in graduate vacancies since 2003.

‘Based on feedback from my peers, graduate building surveyors are having the most trouble finding placements at companies,’ said Lucynda Jensen, a recent graduate recruit at Bovis Lend Lease and education representative for NOVUS, the CIOB’s new committee for young professionals.

Jensen advises candidates to be flexible on location. ‘The south seems to have had more work put on hold, but there is still a lot of work on governemnt MOD sites and schools projects in the north. And consider a 12-month work placement, as employers will see that extra experience as a big advantage.’

On a more positive note, the AGR research found that construction was one of just four sectors predicted to see salary growth among graduate recruits in 2009.

Edward Simpson, from the natural and built environment division at the University of Abertay, Dundee, added that some students are considering a number of post-graduate study options because their job prospects were uncertain.