The Role of Accreditation through Professional Bodies in the Knowledge-Based Society: The Case of Real Estate

The 4th European Real Estate Society Education Seminar Bucharest, Academia de Studii Economice 5-7 December, 2008

Dr. Christopher BahnProgramme Manager, Center for Urban & Real Estate Management – CUREM

Andreas Loepfe MRICSHead Real Estate Research & Strategies, Zurich Insurance Company

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Current Situation

• Governance of Universities and the whole academic system tends to favor

narrow scholary discussions within academic disciplines:

• Crucial for promotion and rewarding of academic staff

• Discrimination against practise-oriented and interdisciplinary studies

• Focus on by evaluation bodies (academic or state-sponsored)

• Crucial areas of practise like Real Estate are heavily under-researched

• Policy-Makers, Associations, Professional Bodies, etc. find it difficult to get state-of-the-art research, tailored to their needs

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Transformation of Knowledge System

Helga Nowotny, Peter Scott, Michael Gibbons (2001): Re-Thinking Science. Knowledge and the Public in an Age of Uncertainty, Cambridge (UK): Polity Press:

Mode-1 Mode-2

In: Richard Thorpe, Tony Beasley (2004): The characteristics of performance management research: Implications and challenges, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 53, Issue 4, Page 334 – 344.

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Governance of academic system is heading into wrong direction…

Knowledge-Based Society:Mode-1 → Mode-2

Governance of Academic System:Mode-2 → Mode-1

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Problems facing Real Estate Education in Universities

• interdisciplinary nature of real estate education normally doesn‘t fit in

faculties which offer such programmes

• academics who are interested in real estate issues have very few

colleagues whom to collaborate with within faculties huge

disincentives concerning power networks and academic discussions

• students are not interested in academic rigour which plays a crucial role

in evaluations of universities and academics

• universities are not interested in students without academic credentials

Who will be left in real estate education?

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Why accreditation by professional bodies is so important?

• Emphasis of practice-oriented knowledge and teaching in real estate

education

• helpful in gaining reputation within and outside of universities

funding possibilities for studies not covered by state-sponsored

research

• enforcing the production of knowledge which is needed most in

societies mode-2

• enrich the debate about sociology of science and knowledge production

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Thank you very much for your attention!