UK realty valuation body woos Indian varsities

Sensing enormous job opportunities in the property valuation market and allied fields in India, the London- based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is exploring partnerships with Indian universities and B-schools to offer RICS-accredited courses in India.

Chartered surveyors, members of RICS, are professionals in valuation and cost estimates of land, property, construction and development.

Initially RICS is planning to introduce courses in valuation, quantity surveying and construction.

"This is because major international firms in valuation and construction have told us there is a severe shortage in these booming sectors. We will add more courses in other areas as demand is identified through our on-going contact with the major firms in real estate sectors," says Jas S Kalsi, manager, membership development, India.

The additional courses could include building surveying, facilities management, geomatics, commercial property practice and planning and development, adds Kalsi.

In addition to these candidates need to demonstrate achievement of technical competencies in the selected subject. After the academic course, the students have to undertake APC (Assessment of Professional Competence) training provided by the employers after recruitment. For a new graduate this will take 2 years.

Having completed the APC training, the graduates go through an assessment by practicing experts. Once they pass the assessment successfully they qualify as RICS members.

"There is a huge and growing demand for chartered surveyors from the major firms such as Trammell Crow Meghraj, Jones Lang LaSalle, CBRE Richard Ellis, Davis Langdon & Seah, Eigen, Laing O'Rourke and so on. In addition to job opportunities in India, the global firms are looking to use India as a source of trained property professionals to work in other parts of the world. Therefore, the earning potential for them is excellent and getting better because of the present supply and demand imbalance," notes Kalsi.