The impact of digitization in the construction and real estate industries is rising, which means the demand for architects, construction engineers, and building technicians with digital skills is also increasing. According to the HSLU, there are currently around 18,000 vacant positions in the construction and real estate industries in Switzerland. In the Building Information Modeling (BIM) sector alone, there is currently a deficit of approximately 500 specialists.
The HLSU now wants to train construction experts with digital skills in a targeted way, which is why it is the German-speaking first university to be launching a completely new Bachelor’s course in the fall. This aims to give students the option of acquiring a digital as well as specialist competence profile. The students learn to create digital twins of buildings and to use new methods and technologies such as BIM, parametric modeling, the Internet of Things (IoT) or virtual and augmented reality over the entire life cycle of a building.
The new Digital Construction course is being added to the existing Bachelor’s degrees for construction. It is to be led by Mark Baldwin and Markus Weber. According to the information given, Baldwin is an internationally renowned author and expert on BIM. Weber is a co-founder and President of Bauen digital Schweiz / buildingSMART Switzerland.
