A study on the new method to educate construction engineers of subcontractors and general contractors through internships in Japan

Abstract

There are many ways in which internship programs are run. Further study and analysis are required to identify new issues from the standpoints of commitment and mutual understanding among educational institutions and companies, which have recently been found to have differences. This study takes the first step forward in accomplishing this task. In particular, by focusing on the analysis and assessment of the comments portion of the questionnaire, we were able to elucidate new issues and findings. This information allowed us to propose a new training method and its contents. The objective of this study is to, first, clarify the current training of construction supervisors at universities and other educational institutions that offer a degree in architecture in Japan, second, assess the extent to which internship-based training has proliferated among educational institutions and companies such as general contractor and subcontractors that participate in the training by studying the contents and effects of training, third, gauge how such training has improved the image of the construction industry among the youths who have yet to be employed by a company or become an apprentice, and fourth, propose a new internship-based training method and its contents on the basis of the results of the study. The method and contents of the survey are as follows. The subjects of the study comprised representatives of universities offering architecture degrees in Japan, as well as companies such as general contractors and subcontractors accept interns. Referencing "A Survey on the Training of Production Engineers at Construction Sites Focusing on Internships in the Academic Year of 2011 (January 2012 to April 2012)," which targeted college and graduate students who participated in internships during the 2011 academic year, we analyzed and assessed the current state of internships as well as the comments portion of the questionnaire, and conducted interviews. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.