University Programme in Lean Management in Civil Engineering

The construction industry is facing fundamental change resulting from technological advances and new demands placed on it by society. With construction projects becoming increasingly complex and pressure on costs rising, builders have to find new innovative ways of working in order to bring construction jobs to a successful conclusion. Builders have major commercial, organizational, legal, and social responsibilities that are not usually covered in depth in a traditional professional education.

This university programme aims to teach advanced knowledge of lean construction management and to equip students to manage modern, agile project organization and delivery. The students, who should ideally have a degree in a relevant subject and some professional experience, will get an understanding of life-cycle optimized construction processes and will learn how to apply them in practice. The programme will show students how to maintain a holistic, sustainable view of construction management across all phases of a project. They will learn to apply methods, tools and approaches of lean construction management, building information modelling and other cutting-edge methodologies (system engineering) competently. Beside the technical knowledge, the students will also build their social skills in people management and motivation, so that they can work well in collaborative project delivery settings.

• You will receive a comprehensive introduction to the principles and methods of lean management.
• You will develop the skills needed to study and prepare written work effectively.
• You will learn about all aspects of construction project management, from design and development to management and control of the production phases.
• The programme covers advanced topics in sustainability in construction: economic, ecological, socio-cultural and functional sustainability.
• You will also learn the essential skills in cost and investment accounting and calculation in the different project phases of lean construction management.
• You will receive an introduction to building information modelling (BIM).

The university programme consists of 7 modules:

• Module A: Lean management
• Module B: Studying and writing skills
• Module C: Construction project management
• Module D: Life-cycle oriented construction
• Module E: Business studies for builders
• Module F: Building information modelling
• Module G: Soft skills

For admission to the programme, applicants must provide evidence of one of the following qualifications:

• An internationally recognized master’s degree at a university or university of applied sciences in the subjects civil engineering, engineering management, building services engineering or architecture;
• An equivalent degree from a post-secondary educational institution in Austria or abroad, in the subjects civil engineering, engineering management, building services engineering or architecture;
• A bachelor’s degree from a university or a university of applied sciences and at least three years’ professional experience in development, design, construction or operation of buildings;
• Graduation from an academic or vocational secondary school or a comparable school in Austria or abroad and at least ten years of relevant professional experience in a management position in development, design, construction or operation of buildings.

Additionally, German language competence of at least the C1 level is required.