CEPT to kick off real estate studies from Aug

With the country witnessing real estate boom, Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT) is planning to introduce the first ever degree course in real estate in the country this year.

The one-year diploma programme in Real Estate Practices and Management will commence from August.

Plans are also afoot to restructure the M Tech course in housing to M Tech in housing and real estate, and for this a proposal has been sent to All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

"The rise in real estate has encouraged us to come up with a separate course structure. Although there are a few crash course available in certain parts of the country, there is hardly any proper course available for real estate studies. If we are successful in our diploma venture, we plan to have a masters degree course in real estate," said Utpal Sharma, director of School of Planning, CEPT. All the courses are self-financed.

A lot of builders, management professionals, engineers and even arts students have shown interest in the course, Sharma said. "The students of CEPT who did their thesis on real estate are getting fantastic job offers," he said.

In August, CEPT will be introducing PG diploma courses including PG course in concrete management, Diploma in construction and Diploma in geomatics.

The courses have been developed in collaboration with Centre of Excellence in Environment and Sustainable Development (CEED). There are 20 seats for all the four courses. The selection will be based on the performance of written test and and interview conducted by CEPT.

CEPT, which has been awarded with the university status, is also planning to initiate new courses for masters in architecture programme which includes masters in transportation, GIS, conservation and computer-aided design.

"We are at an advanced stage for introducing masters in transportation and masters in GIS. We will send a proposal in December this year for getting a nod from AICTE and probably in a year's time we will be able to initiate the courses," he said. The new courses will have 15-20 seats each, he added.