Facilities management: an analysis of evolving educational needs in a developing profession

Abstract

Internationally the development of property, being part of the creation of fixed investment and wealth, is taking place unabated. The absence of a universally acknowledged profession, designated to manage and optimise the utilisation of the ever compounding fixed investments in the products of the collective built environment (buildings, engineering structures and infrastructure), is observed. In practice it manifests itself in the attempts, by various professions and others, to cast themselves into the role of facilities managers. The problem at hand is to extract, from the present practice of facilities management, a knowledge profile and secondly to contextualise the results in terms of other applicable managerial concepts. The main objective is to structure a tertiary education programme. There are reasons to believe that facilities management is in the process of becoming a driving force, not only in the scientific management and optimisation of fixed assets, but as an initiator of development in the built environment. A literature study was undertaken to make an overview analysis and a limited statistical sample was made regarding the views of practising delegates attending continuing education short training courses in facilities management. The outcomes indicate some consistent omissions in the literature, while the views of practitioners contribute to form an overview.