Adding a Land Surveying Option to a Construction Management Program

Introduction

 The Department of Construction at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is currently studying the addition of an option in land surveying, at the request of local industry.  This program change would give graduates the educational requirements to be admitted to take the Land Surveyor-in-Training (LSIT) licensure exam in Illinois, with the possibility of future licensing as a Professional Land Surveyor (PLS).  This option, which would require some adjustment of the standard degree requirements and additional land surveying courses through the SIUE Department of Geography and a cooperative agreement with Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), could offer career advantages to graduates who wish to pursue careers in land development.  It would also offer the opportunity for Construction Management graduates to obtain a professional license.

Historical Perspective

Land surveying has traditionally been allied with the civil engineering profession.  For example, what is today the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers (ISPE) was established in 1886 as the Illinois Society of Engineers and Surveyors (the name ISPE was adopted in 1945). In 1920, the National Council of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors (NCEES) was founded by 7 of the 13 state boards that had engineering registration laws. Until recently, a traditional civil engineering education contained land surveying, and many civil engineers obtained licensure both as professional engineers and land surveyors.  Alternatively, a high school education plus a lengthy period of work experience (typically 8 years) under the direction of a licensed land surveyor was sufficient to sit for the initial registration exam.  However, the increased emphasis on design rather than technical courses has marginalized surveying in civil engineering curricula.  At the same time, rapid changes in surveying instrumentation technology, licensing examinations, accreditation, and legal and societal trends have transformed surveying from a skills-oriented discipline into a professional discipline that requires college-level study in mathematics, the sciences, communications, and computer applications, in addition to land surveying.

The model registration law drafted by NCEES now calls for a minimum education requirement of a 4-year degree from an accredited program, plus work experience as required by the individual states.  All 50 states are currently using the NCEES Fundamentals of Land Surveying (FLS) examination and the Principles and Practices of Land Surveying (PLS) examination, which is combined with an examination covering state-specific statutes, rules and regulations and local practice.  Nationwide, there are only 15 programs leading to a baccalaureate degree accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET): 6 by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC), 7 by the Related Accreditation Commission (RAC), and 2 by the Technology Accreditation Commission (TAC ) (Table 1). 

The Illinois Professional Land Surveyor Act of 1989 (225 ICS 330) revised the law relating to the definition, licensing and regulation of the practice of land surveying in the state.  The Civil Administrative Code of X, Title 68, Chapter VII, Subchapter b, Part 1270 details the implementation of this public law by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation.  Section 1270.5.4.b states that

“beginning January 1, 1998, an applicant [for licensure as a Professional Land Surveyor-in Training] shall have a baccalaureate degree in land surveying from an accredited college or university, or a baccalaureate degree in a related science, including at least 24 semester hours of land surveying courses from a Board approved curriculum of an accredited institution.”

In Illinois, the only accredited program leading to a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering-Surveying Specialization is at SIUC. The Civil Engineering-Surveying Specialization at that university is designed to provide knowledge and competence toward licensure as a Professional Land Surveyor in Training. With additional experience as required by the Board of Professional Regulation, graduates meet the educational requirements for licensing and work in private practice as a professional land surveyor.

Table 1

 ABET-Accredited Surveying Programs

Source: Point of Beginning, January 2001.

 The Illinois statute details the course requirements for four-year degree programs other than land surveying that qualify as a “related science” as:

                15 semester hours pure science (Physics, Chemistry, Geology)

                15 semester hours mathematics beyond trigonometry

                15 semester hours additional science

                24 semester hours land surveying courses

There are several questions at issue.  The first is whether, with modification, the existing Construction Management degree program at SIUE meets the requirements to qualify as a “related science” for land surveying under the X statute. The second question is whether the addition of the required number of semester hours of land surveying courses could be accomplished without violating the curricular requirements established by the American Council for Construction Education (ACCE).  A more general question is whether construction is an academic discipline sufficiently related to land surveying to justify the attempt to make the two disciplines fit into a single program. 

Industry Request for Program

In the spring of 2001, the president of a local surveying and engineering consulting firm contacted the SIUE School of Engineering with a request to study the addition of surveying courses to the present curriculum of either Civil Engineering or Construction Management.  Coming from a member of the Illinois Board of Professional Regulation, active member of the Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Association, and a business owner, the request is evidence of a perceived industry need for college programs that meet the requirements for the land surveyor licensing in Illinois.  In addition, there is a perceived need for more courses suitable for persons working in land surveying and civil engineering consulting firms who need continual training to keep up with rapidly changing technology in computer aided drafting for civil engineering projects, geographic information systems (GIS), global positioning satellite technology (GPS), and legal aspects of surveying.  The existing program at SIUC is 125 miles from the metropolitan St. Louis area, and there is a desire for additional college-level courses to be offered at SIUE to serve surveying firms in this area.

After analyzing the courses offered in both the Civil Engineering and Construction programs, it was felt that the Construction Management degree offered the best fit for the needs of the land surveying profession.  Students graduating with the Construction Management degree have experience and education that would be beneficial in a land surveying firm.  In particular, the minor in Business, which gives Construction Management graduates a solid foundation in managerial and financial accounting, economics, business administration, labor economics, finance, marketing, and management courses, would give these graduates an edge over civil engineers with respect to running a land surveying business.  It was therefore determined that, despite the historic alliance between civil engineering and land surveying, the relationship with construction management could be just as logical, and may offer advantages.

Curriculum Issues

The SIUE Department of Construction, housed in the School of Engineering, offers a 4-year Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management with a minor in Business. Students take a 2-year core of science and general education requirements similar to other programs in the School of Engineering. The 128 semester-hour program includes 57 hours of Construction courses (including 29 hours of construction science), 21 hours of Business, 23 hours of Natural Science and Mathematics, 6 hours of Engineering courses, and 21 hours of other general education courses.

Required Curriculum Changes for Land Surveying Specialization

Analyzing the current curriculum in terms of the Illinois registration requirements, the Construction Management program contains 9 semester hours of pure science (Physics and Chemistry), and 14 hours of math beyond trigonometry (Calculus I and II, Statistics), neither of which are sufficient to meet the statutory requirements for a land surveying curriculum.  Depending on the ruling of the state licensing board on what constitutes the “additional science”, the present curriculum meets or exceeds the number of hours of construction science courses.  The Department will explore whether the land surveying requirements could be met by using the currently-required CNST 264 (Construction Surveying), and adding GEOG 210 (Physical Geography), GEOG 310 (Physical Geology), GEOG 320 (Cartography) GEOG 418 (Geographic Information Systems), and GEOG 423 (Computer Mapping) at SIUE, and an additional 12 semester hours of coursework at SIUC.  It is possible that two of the SIUC courses can be completed via Distance Learning, leaving only a summer program to be completed at the SIUC campus.  By using the Geography courses to complete Technical Elective requirements in the Construction Management degree program, completion of the surveying specialization would add an additional 18 semester hours of coursework to the existing program requirements.

A possible means of meeting the Illinois educational requirements for land surveying is outlined in Table 2, and would have to be submitted to the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation for review and approval.  Italicized print indicates courses not currently required in the Construction Management curriculum. Bold italicized print indicates courses available at SIUE, but not currently part of the curriculum.  The mathematics hours fall one semester hour short of the requirement, but will be submitted for review without any changes.

Student Demand Estimation

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment of surveyors, cartographers, photogrammetrists, and surveying technicians is expected to grow about as fast as the average through the year 2008 (http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos040.htm). Technology is rapidly changing the land surveying profession, as Global Positioning Satellite technology is replacing or supplementing traditional survey methods, increasing productivity and reducing the need for manpower. There is an increasing need for professionals who can work with clients, planning and zoning commissions, and attorneys, and use computerized data handling and mapping tools.  The surveying profession is currently divided on the need for a four-year degree: however, the trend is clear. Currently some 20 states require a baccalaureate degree for licensed surveyors, and reciprocity will become difficult for those states that do not.  Thus, for the profession to remain viable, there will have to be a supply of graduates with land surveying or closely related degrees.  The existing program at SIUC, the only four-year degree program in the state, currently graduates approximately 15 students per year.  Other programs at community colleges in the state and in neighboring states offer courses that meet licensing requirements in neighboring states, but not in Illinois.  More research is needed to determine the regional demand for surveying education.  It is anticipated that a small number of Construction Management students would select this option, although a significant number of students work as interns for a local construction firm in the land surveying division during their undergraduate careers.  The more field-oriented image of land surveying and relatively low pay associated with the land surveying profession are not attractive to many students, who aspire to a management position in the construction industry and fail to see the advantage of a land surveyor’s license for their future career advancement.  However, there has not been sufficient market study to determine the potential number of alumni who might be interested in adding a professional license to their credentials, or how many practicing, non-licensed surveying technicians might be attracted to the program. 

Impact on Existing Program

In order to meet the Illinois requirements for semester hours of science and land surveying courses, a student would have to take an additional 18 semester hours of coursework beyond the current requirements for graduation with a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management, minor in Business.  The surveying courses could not simply replace 18 of the 21 semester hours of Business courses due to the University requirements for General Education, and ACCE requirements for 270 instructional hours of business topics.  The SIUE Construction program, which received accreditation from ACCE in July 2001, already contains 50% more Construction Science instructional hours (453) than the required 300 hours, and the addition of land surveying courses would drive the program further toward a construction science emphasis. University requirements for General Education courses (in particular, 9 semester hours of Fine Arts and Humanities) restrict substitution of geography courses (classified as Natural Science and Mathematics).  Without violating either University or ACCE requirements, it appears that only 9 hours designated as Technical Electives could be used to meet the 24 hours of land surveying courses.  Two additional courses would also be required to meet the state requirement for “pure sciences.”  Thus, a student wishing to complete a Construction Management degree with a land surveying specialization would have to take an additional 18 semester hours of course work (total of 146 semester hours), including 6 hours in residence at SIUC during a summer term.

The proposed method of meeting the Illinois educational requirements for land surveying would not require any additional staffing in the Department of Construction.  Existing courses in the SIUE Department of Geography and SIUC Department of Civil Engineering would be utilized.  The impact on student population in other Construction elective courses is unknown.  It is not anticipated that the land surveying option would initially drain resources from other aspects of the Construction program.

Conclusion

The Department of Construction at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is currently studying the addition of a specialization in land surveying, at the request of local industry.  The SIUE Construction degree, a Bachelor of Science in Construction, Minor in Business, appears to meet much of the criteria for acceptance as a “related science” as defined in the 1989 Illinois Professional Land Surveyors Act (225 ICS 330), but a formal application to the state board has not yet been made.  Additional courses to meet the statutory requirements are available in other departments and at another campus of this university, and will not require additional faculty resources.  The addition of the specialization must be studied with respect to curricular requirements for accreditation, but it appears that the option could be added without impacting the Construction Management program’s accreditation status under ACCE.  An argument can be made that the two disciplines, Construction Management and Land Surveying, have sufficient similarities of curriculum and practice to make the land surveying option a reasonable extension of the existing Construction Management program.  More research is needed to estimate student demand for this option. 

Table 2.

Proposed Curricular Changes for Land Surveying Option

References

Buckholder, E. “Educational Sanction.” POB Magazine, 26:4, January 2001.

State of X. “X Professional Land Surveyor Act of 1989 (225 ICS 330).

U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook. http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos040.htm. Site visited 10/15/02.