The Collaboration between a CM Company and a University
Author: Century 3 Update: 2020-12-18
A University’s role is to disperse knowledge and prepare students for a career after college, and to expand knowledge through research. The students will enter the society and practice the knowledge they’ve learned, while academic research focuses on technical advancements and resolving problems that confront industry and the global community. A CM Company has hands on industry experience, which can help prepare and advise students on their future careers in the built environment. A CM Company can also contribute with identifying challenges and problems that industry and professionals face that need academia’s help through research. How can the University and a CM Company work together? Recently, Professor Darlene Septelka from University of Washington and Rong He, the CEO of Century 3, had effective dialogue and communication on how industry can support academia and they explored future opportunities to cooperate on a global level.
The communication between the University and Century3 Inc. is important for both sides. By collaborating with an engineering company, the University of Washington could benefit from:
1. Understanding how industry practices globally and the challenges industry faces in the 21st century;
2. Helping students to prepare for to the future work after graduation;
3. Partnering on possible academic research in the construction industry.
At the same time, Century 3 can benefit from:
1. Understanding what students are being taught at the University;
2. Participating in student projects and connecting to students, and potential future employees;
3. Opportunities to participate with the University in future academic research.
University of Washington’s College of Built Environments offers an undergraduate and graduate degrees in construction management through their Construction Management Department. The School’s focus is planning, design, construction and management of our built environments and the Construction Management Department’s focus is on the study and practice of the managerial and technological aspects of the construction industry.
Construction Management is a technical degree that includes a combination of Engineering, Architecture, and Business. The focus in these degree programs is on professional education that successfully combines theory and application, with a strong emphasis in applied.
Introduction to Century 3 (Shanghai) Inc.
Century 3 is a leading technology, engineering, and project management company in China. It provides reliable solutions to industrial and commercial clients worldwide with a full range of integrated engineering, construction and trading services with Chinese government issued licenses. In addition to its China operations, Century 3 is access to internal and external resources based in North America, Europe, and South East Asia gives itself a pool of experience capable of responding to any client need. Until now, there were two relevant dialogue and communication between both sides.
On 19 Nov 2020, Rong He, the CEO of Century 3, presented the first guest lecture remotely from the Century 3 office in Shanghai for students enrolled in the elective course – International Project Management. In this lecture, Mr. He discussed challenges and opportunities in managing international construction projects.
Regarding this guest lecture, professor Septelka said that under the current challenges of teaching remotely, inviting a guest lecturer from industry keeps the class sessions fresh and interactive, and Mr. He provided a live international connection for students to engage with and discuss international management challenges.
Dec. 11th Century 3’s involvement in graduate students’ final presentation
For this exchange several employees of Century 3 were invited to engage in the students' final presentation in the same course. In this online presentation, the student played the role of employees of a fictional international PM consulting firm hired by a fictional owner planning to build a greenfield office campus in their assigned county, while Century 3 played the role of key owner executives responsible for executing the project. Both students and Century3 employees focused on academic project problems solving during this online class.
Professor Darlene Septelka said Century 3’s participating in the final class presentations provided the students with practical questions about their plans, such as project delivery approach, and their voices carried as much or more credibility than those from the academic side. Also, Jian Chen from Century 3 said it was a great opportunity to learn what students were studying in graduate education.
Professor Septelka concluded that Century 3’s engaging and interaction with students during their academic studies is an important education component of training future construction leaders. Century 3 sets a great example of how companies can step up and support construction education globally.
As the benchmark in construction management industry, Century3 is aware that keeping continuous dialogue is helpful for both the company and the University. In the future, Century 3 expects to conduct further research focusing on design and construction management and to continue to establish and explore global opportunities to collaborate with the University of Washington.