Curriculum Design

The four-year real estate degree course at the National University of Singapore essentially prepares students for professional careers in real estate. Job opportunities for real estate graduates in both the private and public sectors include urban planners, property consultants, financial analysts, valuers, marketers and real estate managers.

In real estate education, the basic issues at hand are the curriculum design and deciding what knowledge and skills to impart. In addition, the curriculum has to keep pace with recent changes in university education, which is to develop and equip students with specialist knowledge and at the same time, impart a well-rounded education.

Traditional Delivery System

The programme's core modules are taught through traditional lectures and these classes typically range f rom 150 to 180 students. The lecture method facilitates the dissemination of theories and principles to a large audience in a single setting. In lectures, the learning environment is generally passive in nature. In other words, depending on the teacher's interests and teaching skills, students may or may not be actively involved in the learning process. Small-group teaching or seminars are conducted in tutorial groups.

Students are obviously no longer impressed by PowerPoint presentations though they are a vast improvement as compared to the good old days where teaching was mainly done with chalk and board. Students want to see the 'real' side of real estate because the very nature of the discipline is practical. A house or building is made of brick and Figure 1. Visit to the Growth Triangle developments in Batam, Indonesia Figure 2. Talks and visits on real estate projects in Ho Chi Minh City mortar, not just a collection of words or a set of principles. In other words, the challenge is to inject realism into the class and show students how theory is put into practice.

'Out of Class' Learning

Students are brought to actual sites or property developments through local and overseas residential programmes organised by the department. Some of these field trips included visits to a mega-integrated development like Suntec City in Singapore, a huge petrochemical installation like Jurong Island, or even projects as far as the Suzhou Industrial Park in China and the elderly retirement village in Gold Coast, Australia. From feedback, students learnt a great deal from seeing the real things first hand. These visits helped students to relate what they had previously learnt in lectures and tutorials to real world projects, reinforcing what they were taught. It is also through such trips that students learnt how the content and concepts in different modules are integrated into real world projects and developments to form a 'complete picture'.

Organising a field trip, especially an overseas one, require early planning with the host organisations as the administrative and financial arrangements can be overwhelming. Some practical issues include sourcing of suitable projects, arranging for meetings with senior government officials and looking for local guides or translators. Moreover, there could be concerns for safety and security with a large group of students. From students' point of view, financial costs could be an important consideration if they wish to participate in overseas visits.

Figure 1. Visit to the Growth Triangle developments in Batam, Indonesia

Figure 2. Talks and visits on real estate projects in Ho Chi Minh City

Conclusion

Real estate is a significant asset in the economy and therefore the curriculum should be designed to ensure that graduates are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to develop innovative solutions to real estate development and investment problems in a rapidly evolving global market. Theory is only one side of the education equation. Equally important, if not more, is the need to integrate the discipline's practical applications into the classroom and get students to view and think critically about issues and problems in the real world context. Professors have the option to include residential programmes and field visits as part of their arsenal of instructional and pedagogical tools to make learning relevant and stimulating.