Construction management students’ perception of BIM adoption and its implications in a non-mandated country

Building information modeling (BIM) is increasingly being recognized and gradually adopted by the construction industry in India, even though it is still not mandated by the Government. As the demand for trained BIM professionals grows, many educational institutes in India have started including BIM in their respective architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) related curriculum courses, mostly at a beginner level. This study tries to access the perceptions of these AEC students towards various aspects related to the BIM practice and its adoption in India. It aims to provide a reference point, and help bridge the gap between the industrial BIM proficiency requirements, and the institutional BIM teaching-learning approach. As students are the prospective BIM professionals, this study gives important insights for the BIM practice stakeholders to understand the learners' individual motivation, bias and experience. The methodology consisted of conducting an online questionnaire survey to collect the students' demography and background data; as well as their perceptions (on a five-point Likert scale) towards BIM benefits, BIM functionalities, BIM as a career option, and challenges to BIM implementation in India. The 188 responses were divided into subgroups and statistically compared based on two-sample t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings are discussed with their possible implications in the academia as well as the industry. The study emphasizes having a better engagement of the academia with the BIM industry and policy makers to develop a synergic BIM learning ecosystem.