Department of Building Economics: 25 Years of Service to the Country

By Dr. Raufdeen Rameezdeen, Head – Department of Building Economics

In early 80’s, the profession of Quantity Surveying in Sri Lanka was on very shaky ground due to the non availability of professionally qualified quantity surveyors. The only source of accredited professional qualifications was from abroad and therefore at a price. The local quantity surveying education was limited to the technician level, with the courses being conducted at virtually all the technical colleges dotted throughout the country. In order to fill this vacuum, the Department of Building Economics was established in 1983.

The cohort of eighteen students commenced the Quantity Surveying degree programme in January 1986 and graduated in 1991. Professor David Wills of the University of Greenwich, was appointed as the Department’s first external examiner. In 1995 the Department took a very important step forward with the commencement of the Master of Science degree course in Project Management. Professor Peter Brandon of the University of Salford was appointed as the external examiner in 1996.

In 1997, the degree programme in Quantity Surveying received the accreditation of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. The programme received the accreditation of Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors in 1998. Professor Allan Ashworth of University of Salford was appointed as the external examiner in year 2001.

In 2005, the department took a challenging leap with the introduction of modular system for the BSc Quantity Surveying Programme. In 2006, the Department started a new programme: BSc in Facilities Management. In the same year, the newly structured Quantity Surveying degree programme and the new BSc degree in Facilities Management were accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In the same year Professor Peter Brandon was re-appointed as external examiner. The department celebrated the 10th anniversary of MSc in Project Management programme in 2007.

Today, the Department of Building Economics looks back to realize how remarkable its development has been; finding its products performing extremely well in many parts of the world.