Abstract:

School syllabus and teaching techniques in Higher Education degrees related with Construction are required to be reviewed due to the appearance of a new project methodology that has been termed as Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM methodology entails a paradigm change for the construction industry and, thus, for various academic degrees such as Civil Engineering. The use of BIM involves an integral management information of the constructive project. All the information required for the entire life cycle of certain construction project can be incorporated in a three-dimensional computer model. It was in February 2014 when the EU Directive on Public Procurement recommended for the first time to the member states the use of the BIM methodology in projects financed with public funds. In Europe, Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland and Norway) were the first to take a step forward and incorporate this work methodology into their constructive processes. For its part, the United Kingdom established a road map where it required all government projects to use it from 2016. Spanish Government has also taken decisions in order to boost the use of BIM in the country, being compulsory in building construction projects the next year. Moreover, it is expected that it will also be required in civil engineering projects for July 2019. Beyond Europe, the most significant implementations of BIM techniques have taken place in the USA and Chile.

Given this remarkable change in professional methods for construction, university syllabus have introduced cross-disciplinary subjects to supply education dealing with BIM in building technologies. However, its implementation in the field of Civil Engineering is still developing its first steps and the partial introduction in traditional subjects reveals several drawbacks. Initiatives of individuals and companies have emerged on the small scale, though its implementation at the university level has been much discussed due to the possible decline in the acquisition of traditional skills that would involve using the BIM methodology in the classrooms. Even all parties concerned agree that the training required must be transversal and integrated, today there is no standard strategy of implementation. This study proposes to introduce a specific subject in the last year of the Master in Civil Engineering that deals with the BIM methodology in a global way, complementing the traditional subject dealing with projects.

Therefore, this study describes the teaching strategies of a new curricular subject organized by the Civil Engineering School at Technical University of Madrid and adapted to the demands of the construction sector. Moreover, the objectives of the subject and its contents, tools and techniques of the lean BIM will be explained. This contribution will show that the introduction of this subject helps the students to learning how to apply distinct formal project management methods, with better simulate real-world project conditions.

Keywords:

Civil Engineering, BIM, construction, innovation, teaching programme.