Research Projects And Consultancy
British Council’s Going Global Partnership programme
About
MKSSS’s Dr. B. N. College of Architecture, Pune has received a funding of around 33000GBP under British Council’s Going Global Partnership programme. An Academia-industry consortium is formed among Liverpool John Moores University, UK; MKSSS’s Dr. B. N. College of Architecture, Pune, Pune Construction Engineering Research Foundation, and Rohan Developers Pvt. Ltd. The objective of the Going Global Partnership programme is to promote collaboration and innovation in teaching and learning and facilitate Transnational Education in Higher Education Institutions between India and the UK. The overarching aim of the Going Global Partnerships programme is to catalyse new teaching and learning partnerships that will allow more Indian students to experience the UK education system and global learning approaches. Dr. Anupa Manewa from LJMU, UK, applicant and Dr. Vaishali Anagal, BNCA, Pune, co-applicant had applied for research funding.
The Indian construction industry is the second largest employer of the country that contributes 9% to the economy. The sector employs 44million workers; however, skill gaps in terms of both the shortage & mismatch is identified as one of dominant concerns which needs immediate attention. In fact, the new jobs are arriving into the market along with the innovative technologies, where reskilling/upskilling is needed to facilitate the market demand and the standards. The magnitude of the problem is further highlighted in ‘Future of Jobs in India’ (2022) by confirming that more than 50% of workforce will need to be reskilled to meet the demands of the evolving employability. Therefore, the skill demand and existing skill gap in the construction industry needs to be identified and appropriate mechanisms needs to be developed.
Under this program, a one year post graduate diploma course will be developed to offer an apprenticeship programs offer a combination of education and skills to the student, create an innovative employer funded financing model. In a way, the linking the higher education degrees to the learning-by-doing and learning-while-earning will be possible to make higher education more inclusive and demand-driven. The National Education Policy India (2020) endorses apprenticeship schemes while claiming that the unemployability of graduates are higher than that of other youth.
The programme aims to develop knowledge and skills hub and a top-up degree course to cater the skill crisis in Indian construction sector. The curriculum will be developed by identifying the skills gap through initial research in the construction industry. The apprentices will be given an option of completing their degrees either in India or UK. The course will be open for the students from both cognate and non-cognate disciplines. The students from deprived and disadvantaged communities, and differently abled, will be encouraged.
Partners
Funding agency
British Council, Going Global Partnerships Program
https://www.britishcouncil.in/going-global-partnership-grants
Academic Partners
Dr. B. N. College of Architecture, Pune
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Industry Partners
Pune Construction and Engineering Research Foundation, Pune
Rohan Developers Pvt. Ltd., Pune
Team
Dr. Vaishali Anagal, Dr. B. N. College of Architecture, Pune
Arch, M.tech (T and CP), Ph.D.
Dr. Sujata Karve, Dr. B. N. College of Architecture, Pune
Arch, M. Arch (Planning), Ph.D.
Dr. Sharvey Dhongde, Dr. B. N. College of Architecture, Pune
Arch, M. Arch (Housing), Ph.D.
Dr. Anupa Manewa, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
B.Sc.(QS), M.Sc. (QS), Ph.D.
Dr. Mohan Siriwardhena, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
B.Sc.(QS), M.Sc. (QS), Ph.D.
Mr. Jayant Inamdar, Industry Partner
Pune Construction and Engineering Research Foundation
Mr. Abhishek Bhatewara, Industry Partner
Rohan Developers Pvt. Ltd., Pune
Research Activities
Participation at Constro 2022
An annual international exhibition in construction industry was organized by the industry partner Pune Construction and Engineering Research Foundation, Pune during 12 Jan 2022 and 16 Jan 2022. A panel of British Council funded research project was included in BNCA’s stall at Constro. Around 5000 participants visited the stall. The poster publication at Constro offered a wider visibility to the project.
BNCA faculty explaining the research project and its proposed outcome to the participants at Constro 2022
BNCA’s stall at Constro 2022
Research Stage 1
In the stage 1 of the research, interviews with experts from construction industry including architects, developers, construction project managers, facility managers, and civil engineers were conducted. The objectives of the interviews included:
- To identify current knowledge and skills gaps
- To investigate reasons of the industry-academia skills gaps
- To analyze the issues faced by industries due to the knowledge and skills gaps in their current employees
- To understand the possible mechanisms to bridge the industry-academia skills gaps
Training the Trainers program at Liverpool John Moores University. UK
A 3 days Training the Trainers program was organized by Dr. Anupa Manewa at Liverpool John Moores University. UK between 23rd May 2023 and 25th May 2023.
The team included Dr. Anurag Kashyap, Principal, BNCA; Dr. Vaishali Anagal, project coordinator, Dr. Sujata Karve and Dr. Sharvey Dhongde as Indian Academic partners and Engg. Jayant Inamdar as representative of Industry partner, PCERF, Pune visited LJMU, UK for the training program.
The visit included research activities and site visits to construction projects including Everton Football stadium at Liverpool and St. Catholic school at Rickmansworth, a visit to Liverpool John Moores University for various activities. Following activities were conducted during the 3-days program:
- A team of professors visited Everton Football stadium site. Quantity Surveyor Racheal Jack and Digital engineer Anisha Begum presented the digital management of the construction project. Mr. Steve, project manager explained the construction technology used for the project during the site visit.
2. Prof. Vaishali Anagal presented the research findings of the stage 1 research conducted by BNCA team.
3. A meeting was conducted between BNCA team and Dr. Jin Wang, FET Research Director at LJMU to discuss the future collaborations for research projects.
4. Mr. Shaun Mckee, Senior Quantity Surveyor at Tetra Tech presented the apprenticeship program at Tetra Tech. A discussion was conducted between BNCA team and Mr. Shaun Mckee on skills challenges in construction industry and apprenticeship program.
5. A demonstration on SPOT DOG (a walking indoor and outdoor 3D scanner) was conducted by Dr. Layth Kraidi, LJMU.
6. A meeting was conducted between BNCA team and Dr. Keith George, vice chancellor- Research, LJMU, Dr. Ndy Ekere, Dean – FET, and Dr. Mike Riley- Director CECB to discuss the future collaborations between BNCA and the department of built environment at LJMU for joint research projects, twinning programs, joint studios etc. BNCA publications were presented to the LJMU team.
7. The BNCA team visit to Maritime simulator at LJMU and had an hands on experience on Maritime Simulator.
8. Dr. Helen Jermark presented their current research project in Astrophysics to BNCA faculty.
9. BNCA team visited the department Architecture at LJMU and had a meeting with Dr. Ian Wroot, Head of Architecture and Arts and Design department. He presented works of undergraduate and post graduate students. BNCA faculty visited the studios of graduate and post graduate programs in arts, fashion technology and Architecture and also the fab lab, wood working lab and other few labs at achitecture department. There was a detailed discussion on future collaborations for joint studios, workshops, research projects, twinning programs between BNCA and Department of Architecture at LJMU. BNCA faculty presented BNCA publications to the Dr. Ian Wroot.
10. BNCA team visited a construction project site at Rickmansworth executed by Kier Constructions, one of the leading construction companies in UK.
Both the institutes agreed upon taking the collaboration between the institutes forward as a part of outcomes of the on-going research project funded by the British Council.
Following common research areas were identified for future collaborations:
- Housing technologies
- De-carbonization and net zero energy construction practices
- Research on construction materials especially clay for façade design in collaboration with an industry partner
- Housing- adaptable and flexible housing, reuse through adaptations
- Urban Design- Contextual response
- Use of Virtual Reality technology for teaching, learning and collaborative design processes
During the visit to Liverpool John Moores University, there was an extensive discussion on the research agenda of both institutes among the faculty members. Common research areas were identified during the discussions and a lot of avenues of collaboration including joint research, joint studios, joint workshops, students’ exchange, and consortium with industry partners, twinning programs, and dual degrees were discussed. These joint activities would benefit the faculty and students of both institutes at a larger vel. An MoU of collaboration for conducting these activities is under process which will be established in the purview of the National Education Policy 2020 which has paved a way for collaboration between Indian institutes and Foreign Universities.
The training the trainers program held at LJMU during 23rd May 2023 and 25th may 2023 offered BNCA faculty and industry representative an exposure to construction practices, technological advances, integration of digital technologies in construction, safety parameters, construction project management practices adopted in UK. It also offered an exposure to advanced technologies used for teaching and learning at undergraduate, post-graduate programs and for research.