To satisfy the increased demand for advanced knowledge and skills in the practical application of green-building technology, the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong (PolyU) is set to introduce focused core courses in some undergraduate programmes.
PolyU's Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) will launch a core course on land use and sustainable environment and construction in the first year of all of its four-year undergraduate programmes, from September 2012.
All 400 or so FCE freshmen will take the core course, says Dr Chiang Yat-hung, associate professor and chairman of the undergraduate programme committee at the Department of Building and Real Estate. "This is a foundation course which aims to help deepen students' understanding of sustainability in building technology and its impact and links to property management and law," he adds.
The new four-year undergraduate programmes in surveying, building engineering and property management will include green-building-focused core courses, such as the environmental impact assessment, in the third and fourth years, Chiang notes. "These courses represent a more comprehensive and systematic approach to the green building subject, and the related assessment procedures," he adds.
Because the faculty features four pillar disciplines of technology, law, economics, and property management, the programmes will take an in-depth look at green building construction and design and environmental impact from the perspective of each discipline.
The environmental impact assessment course is likely to encompass the entire green-building and environmental sustainability concept, including building technology and science, environmental science, and knowledge and skills in practical applications of green building technology, Chiang adds. "These are covered in current courses, but we have not organised them into a specific course," he says.
All undergraduate and postgraduate programmes the FCE offers have been updated regularly to reflect developments in the sector, says Chiang. "All courses cover green-building concepts and applications extensively," he adds.
In its postgraduate programmes, the faculty will introduce green-building related courses, he notes.
In addition to classroom learning, the green-building courses will include site visits, field trips and in-depth talks hosted by guest lecturers from the industry.
"PolyU's construction faculty has a long history and many of our alumni are top executives in construction firms. Many are willing to let students visit site operations and their enterprises to give them exposure of real-life working environments," Chiang says.
