Education

A guide to choosing a postgraduate BIM course – Part 2

There are a growing number of options for graduates looking to gain postgraduate BIM education. In the second instalment on BIM masters, we invite the course leaders of the University of Westminster, Middlesex, Huddersfield and Derby to explain what their courses offer, and why students should study with them.

University of Westminster

Building Information Management MSc

Senior lecturer Rob Garvey

The unique nature of our MSc is the focus on management, which will create professionals who are able to manage the whole construction process and the information associated with this. The course is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). Our MSc includes the university’s core construction modules and specific BIM-related modules.

Future construction professionals require knowledge and understanding of BIM, as well as how an integrated project team will take a project from inception to completion. Collaborative working and coordinated information exchange will increase the efficiency of project delivery and asset performance, leading to better sustainability over the building lifecycle and a satisfied client.

This building information management approach is a strategic view of integrated project delivery that encompasses both the demand side (client) and supply side (consultants, contractors and suppliers).

Seminars and tutorials are combined with a series of sessions in collaboration with the London and South East BIM Regions. These sessions involve key industry speakers providing up-to-date insights into the evolution of BIM towards a "digitally built Britain".

Further details about the course

Middlesex University

MSc Building Information Modelling Management

Dr Noha Saleeb

The hardest part about BIM is its management and its continuing development. Our MSc in BIM Management is the only programme designed, not only to give you greater understanding of BIM and its processes, but to give you management skills, interaction with experts in BIM throughout the world and experience of managing collaboration within your teams and with other disciplines.

The programme is for people with several years’ experience in all industry disciplines. It is delivered through remote learning, via interactive webinars and debates, so you do not have to take time off work. We currently have participants from 21 countries worldwide. Additionally, everyone meets together for two days at the beginning and for a final week’s summer school, with facilities for BIM days, which you can attend either in person or virtually.

Our course is structured in three modules: technical, operational and strategic BIM management. In the last module you will do original research for your thesis, which will contribute to your organisation or the industry in general.

Everything is geared to the needs of the BIM managerial level and keeps up to date with developments. All this feeds directly into your day job, especially as you progress through the course, and at the end you have your MSc!

Further details about the course

University of Huddersfield

MSc Design Integration and Building Information Modelling (BIM)

Professor Song Wu 

Our course was launched in September 2015, and unlike other BIM courses, it not only focuses on the BIM technologies, but also views BIM as a collaborative business process. Therefore, we are able to attract students from different disciplines, such as design, engineering and project management.

As part of our curriculum, we introduce a very topical subject, the concept of "lean construction project management" led by the global authority on "lean", Professor Lauri Koskela.

The course is very well connected to the industry and we have regular guest lectures from leading industry experts. We recently signed up with the Beijing Construction and Engineering Group, a leading international construction company which made an £800m investment in the Manchester Airport City project, to provide collaboration, placement and graduate employment opportunities.

Students on the course will also be part of the department’s research centre, the Innovative Design Lab, where they will be exposed to cutting-edge research and participate in research workshops, as well as seminars attended by international leading academics and industrialists. This is an exciting course, full of opportunities, delivered by a group of highly experienced and research-active academics.

Further details about the course

University of Derby

MSc Building Information Modelling and Project Collaboration

Dr Boris Ceranic

Our programme content incorporates an innovative blend of design management, sustainable design analysis and advanced modelling, customisation and visualisation, at the cutting edge of technology. It further aims to research approaches and technologies for an efficient design integration and project collaboration, understanding BIM impact on the design process and workflow requirements.

It aims to provide students with an academically rigorous, intellectually stimulating, practice orientated and challenging programme of study, related to the theory and practice of BIM as the emerging industry standard approach to the design, analysis, and management of the building life cycle.

Further details about the course

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