An Investigation into the Factors that Contribute to the Lack of Skills and Development within the Construction Industry

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DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my God, parents, and my friends. I could not have completed my journey without their love, support and encouragement. Throughout my journey my parents have show great support for me and they have always stood be me, and believed in me and my abilities, even at the times when I had given up hopes. But for the support and inspiration that these individuals have provided, I would not have been able to attain this goal. In all things that I do, I consider the impact it will have on them, and I appreciate their support in doing the same. Throughout the process of this dissertation, I found out that it is the desire to become successful in life, which at the end of the day makes the journey worthwhile.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

For this piece of work, I acknowledge the blessing of my Lord who enabled me to complete the study through countering various hurdles and challenges. In addition, I would like to acknowledge my research supervisor who assisted me throughout the period of this dissertation completion. Without his support and supervision, I would have never been able to complete this dissertation. Last, but not the least, I would like acknowledge the kind support of my family who always backed my abilities and skills to study this far.

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DECLARATION

I would like to declare that everything presented in this dissertation is original in nature and does not repeat any previous findings and results. I declare that the information presented in this study has been gathered solely for the purpose of academic studies. Before conducting this research, I had a complete understanding of the guidelines, requirements and regulations of my University.

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ABSTRACT

The definition of skills in construction is clear depending on the role of an individual. Skills are defined as an ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities. Ultimately applying this in practice is achievable; however the measured level of input seems to vary, hence creating uncertainty as to the skill levels in construction. The Rethinking construction report justifies this by stating, there is a crisis in training. The research will investigate the effects of the rise in tuition fees and how it affects the development of the construction industry. Skills will also be affected by the rise in tuition fees, and investigating how this is will be analysed also. Students being the focus point of this objective, there is already a clear linkage in skills and knowledge obtained at higher education in to the lack of skills present. The use of statistics and data around the issue of higher education in construction will be evaluated in this research. The Hypothesis from this specific objective is that there will be less people applying for construction related courses due to the rise of tuition fees. Factors of possible career development are a burden on ...