Empowering the Future of Construction and Quantity Surveying Professionals: Unveiling the Skills Revolution in New Zealand's Construction Industry

Significant changes in the building sector are presently being driven by technological breakthroughs, climate change, and a growing emphasis on well-being. The disruptions created by the 2020 pandemic have highlighted the importance of training students for professions in this expanding sector. Diploma-level building and quantity surveying programmes are widely provided at polytechnics throughout New Zealand. In contrast, little study on skill transfer has been performed in the New Zealand construction industry. This study seeks to address this gap by identifying the essential skills for the future and investigating how academic curricula might be adjusted to match altering corporate requirements over the next three to five years. The purpose is to provide graduates with the skills they need to succeed in New Zealand's construction sector. In-depth interviews with academics and professionals were conducted, followed by a thematic analysis of the interview transcripts. The study suggests three major topic areas are critical for designing construction and quantity surveying programmes: data analytics and STEM knowledge, cooperation and communication, energy management, and circular economy. Furthermore, the correlations between these categories give informative data that may be utilised to create curriculum development recommendations.