A Body Of Knowledge For The Construction Engineering And Management Discipline

Many engineering professional associations and societies have defined the body of knowledge (BOK) related to their specific engineering disciplines to define the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become licensed and/or certified to practice professionally. Educators can use such BOKs to identify the knowledge domain for undergraduate and graduate degree programs. A construction engineering and management BOK has not been previously established. As part of a longitudinal review of the construction curriculum, a BOK regarding the technical aspects of construction management has been defined based on a review of the requirements of multiple accrediting bodies. Four principal knowledge areas (cost estimating, construction scheduling and control, project administration, and contract documents) were identified as representing particular sectors of construction management for which there is a set of knowledge and skills. A process for defining program outcomes based on the BOK and course learning objectives based on program outcomes, and mapped back to the BOK, is presented. The BOK and the curriculum development process are independent of any accreditation body, which allows both to be used by any CM program regardless of current of future accreditation requirements.