Critical Skills Requirement of Quantity Surveying Graduates for Fourth Industrial Revolution Readiness

Abstract

The continued relevancy of the quantity surveying profession as a cost accountant of the construction industry in the fourth industrial revolution era and beyond is penultimate on the adequacy of the skills and competency of its graduates. The study examined the critical skills requirement of quantity surveying graduates (QSGs) for the fourth industrial revolution readiness in Nigeria. A purposive sampling method was employed to select 154 senior built environment professionals with a direct working relationship with QSGs in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria. They comprised 33 architects, 44 Quantity Surveyors, 42 Engineers, and 35 Builders. An online structured questionnaire survey was used for data collection. Frequency, percentage, and mean item score were the descriptive analysis methods used, while inferential analysis employed were Kendall’s W test, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Findings indicated that the QSGs' readiness for the fourth industrial revolution is low (MS=2.75). The only two 4IR technologies where the readiness of QSGs is moderate are the Internet of Things (MS=3.22) and Building Information modeling (MS=3.13). The critical skills requirement for QSGs were estimating skills (MS=4.19), software usage skills (MS=4.04), and financial  management and control skills (MS=3.99).  The four PCA groups of the QSGs skills were advanced skills, core skills, soft skills, and basic skills. The result of Kendall’s W test indicated a weak agreement in the opinion of built environment professionals on the critical skills requirement for QSGs (W=0.152), as well as on the readiness of QSGs for 4IR (W=0.136). The study concluded that the curricula of quantity surveying training institutions need to be re-examined to accommodate more soft and emerging skills in addition to the core skills.