A summary of my experiences on the PGCAP Course

“When I got appointed as a Lecturer in 2010 I found that I had to do the PGCAP course as part of requirements for my probation. Initially I did not feel happy about this. I had quite a heavy teaching workload and also the pressure to develop research papers and grant proposals. I certainly felt the PGCAP course was a distraction to the ‘core’ aspects of my work in the university and unfortunately, I had no choice but to do it. Today, my view of the PGCAP course is completely different. By the time I completed the programme successfully in July 2012, I found that participation in the course had helped me to develop greatly in all aspects of my career and academic aspirations. First, participation in the PGCAP course helped me to learn new ideas about teaching and learning and my role as a lecturer – including personal tutoring, supporting student learning, classroom teaching, assessment and feedback. One word I quickly became familiar with was ‘Pedagogy’. I began to develop a better understanding of the purpose of teaching which is to facilitate learning. I found the workshops extremely useful and by the time I was through a few of them, I felt that the course was right and very beneficial in terms of my own personal development as a lecturer and my understanding of the higher education environment and engagement with students. In short, the whole PGCAP experience was very developmental and I could feel its positive impact on my teaching, research, administrative duties and relationships with people across the university. Participation in the course helped me to meet other new lecturers across the university so I made friends and this enabled me to share ideas and experiences. The course was clearly time-consuming but certainly worth every bit of the time invested. It is professionally useful to have the PGCAP qualification and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. Perhaps the two most useful aspects of the course for me were the project and portfolio. I learned much from my T&L project on feedback provision and use and fortunately the work was of significant benefit to my School. I enjoyed both project and portfolio equally – but I found the process of writing my reflective teaching portfolio very developmental, in that, the process enabled me to give more serious thought to my routine activities as a lecturer, reviewing my personal development over time, and identifying new ways to improve. The portfolio and project have helped me so much to develop in my understanding of pedagogical issues – and generated in me a permanent interest to engage in teaching and learning issues. Today I am based in the School of Construction Economics and Management at University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. I serve as Director of our undergraduate programme and the ideas and experiences gained on the PGCAP course are serving me extremely well. I fully understand pedagogic issues in a higher education environment and this plays a central role in the development of an effective approach for teaching and supporting student learning. The PGCAP experience has been hugely useful, making a difference, and providing an advantage not only for myself but also for the 400+ students I teach in my new university.” Dr Samuel Laryea School of Construction Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa September 2012

FOREWORD FOR WABER 2012 CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS A big welcome to every participant at this WABER 2012 Conference. Our first three conferences, 2009-11, took place in Accra, Ghana. Nigeria is hosting the WABER Conference for the first time, 24-26 July 2012, and it is a delight to be in this beautiful city of Abuja. Thank you for coming and we hope you enjoy the conference. Time really flies! I still have a vivid recollection of our first event in Accra on 2-3 June 2009. So soon we are having a 4th WABER Conference already. Every credit for the rapid development of the WABER Conference in the last four years should really go to those of you who have participated in the past as well as those attending the conference this year. In the past four years, many of us have become friends through WABER. Many young academics and researchers have also been helped to develop their research work and skills through WABER and thereby found an opportunity to move their careers and ideas forward. The story of WABER just goes to show that we are stronger when we come together and there is nothing we cannot achieve when we work together and support each other. With most of the countries in Africa pushing for development, the WABER Conference provides an essential channel for bringing built environment academics, researchers and practitioners together for the generation of knowledge, interaction and leadership on the key issues that we need to tackle in order to address our challenges and opportunities of the 21st century particularly in relation to the construction sector and built environment. Since 2009, WABER has brought together more than 500 built environment academics, researchers and practitioners to work together towards the development of the built environment field in Africa. We strive to: support young built environment researchers in West Africa (WA) especially to develop their research work and skills through constructive face-to-face interaction with their peers and experienced international academics; supply a platform for more senior academics to network and share ideas on their current research work; and serve as a vehicle for developing the built environment field in Africa. In addition to the 500+ people involved in WABER, we also have about 60 institutions in the WABER Conference network, comprising mainly of universities and polytechnics. This network of people has enabled us to develop a new textbook on “Construction in West Africa” which will be launched at this conference in Abuja. The WABER Book was written by ten academics of West African origin based in six different countries. This contribution is another example of what we can collectively achieve when we work together and combine our ideas. A big thank you to all authors and our partners who have supported us and helped to publish the book. We have engaged in some outreach activities within the past year. In January 2011, some members of our team visited built environment departments in six polytechnics and two universities in Ghana to interact with lecturers and postgraduate students and deliver research workshops. We also donated textbooks to some departmental libraries as a means of supporting students and teaching and learning activities. In August 2011, visits to six universities in Nigeria enabled us to interact directly with staff and students in built environment departments. These visits continue to foster closer interaction with our friends in various institutions. I would like to express our sincere thanks to colleagues in all institutions visited for your warm hospitality. This year’s conference proceedings consist of 125 papers. We initially received and screened 278 abstracts with the help of our Scientific Committee. 182 full papers were eventually submitted and each went through a peer review process. Thus, the papers accepted for publication represent around 68% of full papers received. We congratulate the authors of papers that made it into the proceedings for a job well done. We also thank the 56 members of our Scientific Committee and 84 members of our Review Panel for your expertise and input into the quality of this conference. The published papers cover a wide array of topics including: Building services, Construction design and technology, Construction economics, Construction finance, Contract law, Contracting, Contract administration, Decision support systems, Economic development, Engineering, Energy, Environment, Facilities Management, Health and safety, Housing, Human resources and skills, Information technology, Materials science, Procurement, Project management, Quantity surveying, Real estate and planning, Risk management, Supply chain management, Sustainable technologies, Urban development. As such they reflect various areas of socio-economic development aspirations of countries in West Africa. With most countries in Africa pushing for development, some of the research findings here can play an important role in helping to realize the development aspirations of African economies. An important and impressive statistic is that the 329 authors of the papers in this year’s conference proceedings come from 87 different institutions and 10 different countries. This provides plenty of scope for cross-boundary learning. It also provides for a rich intellectual, international and multicultural blend and platform for networking and developing new knowledge and longer-term collaborations. We hope that all delegates at this conference will make good use of this opportunity. Going forward into the future WABER will develop strategic initiatives for helping more people to develop their work and achieve their potential. The Micheletti & Co. Ltd Prize for Best Masters Research Dissertation is a scheme to recognise and encourage younger researchers. On that note, we wish to record our thanks and gratitude to a number of individuals and organizations who have supported us in various ways: Vector Morrison Ghana Ltd; A-Kon Consults Limited (Ghana); Oladele Construction Ltd (Nigeria); K+H Limited (Ghana); HLB Ltd (Ghana); Laurus Development Partners; PPMC Ltd (Ghana); Micheletti and Co. Ltd; Mr. Michael Kwadwo Frimpong (President of the Africa Association of Quantity Surveyors (AAQS)); Mr. Afolabi Abdulsalam Dania (University of Reading, UK); Professor Kabir Bala (Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria); Professor Stella Zubairu and a number of our colleagues in Nigeria. A common tradition at academic conferences is to have keynote speakers. We are blessed this year to have some really experienced international academics who will be speaking to us: Professor Roger Flanagan (University of Reading, UK); Dr Roine Leiringer (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong); Dr Chris Harty (University of Reading, UK); Professor Stella Zubairu (Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria) and Professor Will Hughes (University of Reading, UK). It is great to have these academics contributing a keynote to the conference. I wish to express appreciation to Dr Sena Agyepong, our Regional Organising Director, and members of our LOC particularly Mr Oladele Ishaq for your hard work and capable management of local organising arrangements. Above all, many thanks to all those of you who have come to take part in this conference. Enjoy Abuja and have a safe journey back home. Dr Samuel Laryea School of Construction Management and Engineering University of Reading, UK July 2012

Visit to six universities in Nigeria in August 2011

WABER trip to Nigeria

06 August - 20 August 2011

6 [Saturday] Arrival in Lagos (Hadmof Inn) in Yaba. Went to Whitehouse to eat local dish (fufu with ewedu and stew). Spent the night in Lagos.

7 [Sunday] At home. Went to St Dominics Catholic Church in Yaba. Spent the night in Lagos.

8 [Monday] Went to Unilag to meet with staff. Was received by Funlola. She took us round to introduce us to lecturers in the faculty of environmental sciences. Met with Godwin Idoro. He took me to meet with Prof Oduaye (Dean of Faculty of Environmental Sciences) and Dr Ogunsami (Head of Building). We had a ggo meeting discussing WABER 2012 and potential hosting of WABER 2013 in Lagos. Present at the meeting were Dr Godwin Idoro, Dr Dada, Dr Nubi, Dr Ogusami. We ended meeting around 5pm and Dr Ogunsemi took us out for dinner at Tantalizers. Spent the night in Lagos.

9 [Tuesday] Left Lagos at 8am for Ife. Arrived in Ife around 12noon. We were met on arrival by Joshua Dada. He helped us to check into the guest house. Then he brought us to the faculty of environmental management to meet with staff. Spent the night in Ife.

10 [Wednesday] Left Ife at 8am and headed straight to Akure to visit colleagues in FUTA. Plan was to visit FUTA on Friday. However, Unilag has a programme on Thursday where they have offered me a slot to speak on WABER so means I would have to return to Lagos by Thursday. We arrived in FUTA unexpected but Professor Ogunsemi and his colleagues gave us a very warm welcome and they were happy to receive us. Had a good meeting with Dean and HODs in Prof Ogunsemi's office. Then did a tour of departments. Afterwards had a seminar with lecturers in the Faculty of Engineering. Was a good meeting. Left Akure around 5pm for Lagos. Dr Arum and Dr Babatola took us out for late lunch. We left Akure around 5pm and arrived in Lagos before 10.

11 [Thursday] Urban and regional planning event in Unilag. I did an interview on Unilag radio with Mariam Yanusa coordinator for UN Habit World Urbanisation forum. Then we went into the auditorium for Mariam's guest lecture on urbanisation. It was good. Had lunch with Babajide an then a meeting with Henry Onukwube and then went home. Omoh Yadua came to visit me in the evening and took me out to show me parts of Lagos around the Yaba area. We ended up going to sit at a spot at the events centre in Yaba.

12 [Friday] At Unilag for meetings with lecturers. Met with Prof Igwe, Dr Kayode Adebayo, Dr Immaculata Nwokoro. Came home to rest.

13 [Saturday] Henry came to pick me up in the morning at 10am. We did a tour of Lagos. VI, Ikoyi and Lekki, etc. I was hugely impresed with the city and developed ambitions to own property in Lagos one day. Visited a construction site in Unilag with Henry then went with him to Immaculata's house to have lunch. Nice lunch. Went back home to rest a bit. It was 5pm by now. Henry picked me up later around 8pm and we went for "Point and kill".

14 [Sunday] Travel from Lagos to Benin City. This was an eventful journey. We left Lagos around 9am and arrived in Benin around 8pm. We lost our way a bit and took the Ibadan, Ife, Akure, Ore, Benin route. This made our journey very long because we could have taken the direct route from Lagos, Shagamu, Ore, Benin. Anyhow, it was a good journey. Gave us a chance to see Dr Arum again in Akure. We also travelled through Ondo town which was good. We were met on arrival in Benin by Professor Anny Nat Aniekwu. He received us very warmly and helped us to settle into the Uniben guest house. Light off throughout the night.

15 [Monday] Visiting Faculty of Engineering at University of Benin. Our main person was Prof Nat Aniekwu. We went round offices tp greet lecturers. Then went to listen to a Lecture by Esther Ofolue. Visited HOD Civil engineering. Then went to see campus facilities including sports facilities and then went home.

17 [Tuesday] Left Benin City for Abuja. We left at 7 45am and arrived in Abuja around 4pm via Lokoja. We went straight to see Yar'adua conference center, NUC and Merit Awards House, British Council. Then we went in search of hotel. We got misled and ended up with a terrible experience. We could not find our way around Abuja. Finally we got frustrated and decided to sleep in the car. Faisal came to our rescue. We had left him behind at the Yar'dua conference center because he had gone into the mosque to pray while we were inspecting the place. We asked for directions from people along the way and we finally managed to get to Silverbird. Faisal and his friends came to get us from there. We had dinner and went to lodge at CHIDA hotel around 11pm in the night to lodge.

18 [Wednesday] We left the hotel in Abuja at 8am. Faisal was seven minutes late so we left him behind and asked him to get a commercial vehicle (find his own way) to Minna. We arrived in Minna around 11am and had a most wonderful reception. Met with senior management board of the university, dean and staff of school of environmental technology. Then went into hotel around 3:30pm to lodge. Anita and Ladi came with us and we had lunch together.

19 [Thursday] We left Minna for Zaria at 5:30am. Arrived in Zaria around 10am. Was received by Dr Ahmed Doko and his colleagues in QS department. We went round various departments to say hello to colleagues and then went to admin to see Prof Kabir Bala. Had lunch with Kulomri, Peter and Haruna. Left Zaria around 4pm and arrived in Abuja around 8pm. Checked into Alexis hotel and Nat helped us to have a discount. Went out in the evening with Rita to celebrate the end of our successful 2 week trip.

20 [Friday] Went with Rita to check out venue for 2012 [National Merit AWards]. Took pictures and had discussions with them. Rita dropped me off at the airport around 2:30pm. My original flight was postponed from 1:30am to 3:30pm. Even this was delayed and we ended up leaving abuja around 4:30pm. Got to Lagos and flight to Accra was delayed as well. We eventually departed to Accra at 10:20pm instead of 7:30. I have been very displeased with AIR NIGERIA and i plan to use Arik in future. Finally arrived in Accra around 11pm

Foreword for WABER 2011 Conference Proceedings

Welcome to this year’s WABER conference in Accra, Ghana. Thank you for coming and we hope you enjoy the conference. The WABER conference has developed rapidly in the past three years, but our aims remain the same. We strive to: help young built environment researchers in West Africa (WA) to develop their research work and skills through constructive face-to-face interaction with their peers and experienced international academics; supply a platform for interaction among more senior academics and an outlet for disseminating their research work; and to serve as a vehicle for developing the built environment field in Africa.

Three conferences have so far been organized, 2009-2011, bringing together nearly 300 academics, researchers and practitioners from 54 different institutions in WA. Through WABER, many young researchers have been helped to develop their research work and skills through constructive face-to-face interaction with experienced academics. We find this encouraging and we will continue to work together with colleagues in WA to develop initiatives that provide young researchers in WA with opportunities to develop their research potential and aspirations.

This year’s conference proceedings consist of 95 papers. This represents around 50 percent of abstracts and full papers that were initially submitted. We congratulate the authors of papers that made it into the proceedings for a job well done. The published papers cover a wide array of topics including: Building services, Construction design and technology, Construction economics and finance, Construction education, Construction materials and production, Contracts, Cost and financial management, Energy systems, Engineering sciences, Facilities management, Health and safety, Housing, Human resources and skills, Information technology, Materials science, Procurement, Project administration and management, Quantity surveying, Real estate and planning, Risk management, Supply chain management, Sustainable technologies, Urban planning and development, Waste management. As such they reflect various areas of socio-economic development aspirations of countries in West Africa. One thing that is strikingly clear is that the construction sector has an important part to play in helping to realize these aspirations.

We hope that the publication and discussion of these papers at this conference will contribute towards the development of knowledge and technologies for development in West Africa and beyond. Given that the delegates at this year’s conference come from 10 different countries and 45 different academic institutions, there is plenty of scope for cross boundary interaction and learning. The conference also provides for a rich intellectual, international and multicultural blend and platform for networking and developing new knowledge, connections and longer-term collaborations. We hope that the delegates make good use of this opportunity.

We wish to express strong appreciation to two companies in Ghana who have supported us financially. The first is A-Kon Consults Limited who are Chartered Quantity Surveyors with head office based in Accra. The second is K+H Limited who are Constructional Engineers and Contractors with head office based in Takoradi. We are grateful for your support and input and we look forward to a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.

We are blessed to have four distinguished Keynote Speakers: Professor George Ofori (National University of Singapore); Dr Roine Leiringer (Chalmers University, Sweden); Dr Chris Harty (University of Reading, UK); and Professor Will Hughes (University of Reading, UK). Thank you very much for coming. As always, many thanks are due to Dr Sena Agyepong for her excellent and capable management of our local organizing arrangements. Above all, thank you to all of you for coming to this conference. Our conference next year (2012) will take place in Nigeria and we look forward to seeing all of you again. Enjoy Accra and have a safe journey back home.

Dr Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Management and Engineering
University of Reading, July 2011

BUILT ENVIRONMENT EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN WEST AFRICA

Samuel Laryea
School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, P.O. Box 219, Reading, RG6 6AW, UK


REFERENCE
Laryea (2011) Built environment education and research in West Africa In: Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) Procs West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 19-21 July 2011, Accra, Ghana, 203-214.

ABSTRACT
Built environment programmes in West African universities; and research contributions from West Africa in six leading international journals and proceedings of the WABER conference are explored. At least 20 universities in the region offer degree programmes in Architecture (86% out of 23 universities); Building (57%); Civil Engineering (67%); Estate Management (52%); Quantity Surveying (52%); Surveying and Geoinformatics (55%); Urban and Regional Planning (67%). The lecturer-student ratio on programmes is around 1:25 compared to the 1:10 benchmark for excellence. Academics who teach on the programmes are clearly research active with some having published papers in leading international journals. There is, however, plenty of scope for improvement particularly at the highest international level. Out of more than 5000 papers published in six leading international peer-reviewed journals since each of them was established, only 23 of the papers have come from West Africa. The 23 papers are published by 28 academics based in 13 universities. Although some academics may publish their work in the plethora of journals that have proliferated in recent years, new generation researchers are encouraged to publish in more established journals. The analyses of 187 publications in the WABER conference proceedings revealed 18 research-active universities. Factors like quality of teaching, research and lecturer-student ratio, etc count in the ranking of universities. The findings lay bare some of the areas that should be addressed to improve the landscape of higher education in West Africa.

Keywords: built environment, education, research, university, West Africa.

Samuel Laryea's Publications

PUBLICATIONS (2006-Present)

REFEREED JOURNAL PAPERS
Laryea, S. and Hughes, W. (2011) Risk and price in the bidding process of contractors, ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 137(4), 248-258

Laryea, S. (2011) Quality of tender documents: case studies from the UK, Construction Management and Economics, 29(3), 275-286

Laryea, S. (2011) Risk accountability in the tender process of contractors in Ghana and UK, International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, Special Issue on “Risk management in projects and enterprises”, (In press)

Laryea, S. and Hughes, W. (2008) How contractors price risk in bids: theory and practice, Construction Management and Economics, 26: 9, 911- 924

Laryea, S. and Hughes, W. (2009) Commercial reviews in the tender process of contractors, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 16: 6, 558-572

Laryea, S. (2009) Subcontract and supply enquiries in the tender process of contractors, Construction Management and Economics, 27: 12, 1219-1230

REFEREED CONFERENCE PAPERS
Laryea (2011) Built environment education and research in West Africa In: Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) Procs West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 19-21 July 2011, Accra, Ghana, 203-214.

Laryea, S. and Hughes, W. (2011) Negotiating access into firms: obstacles and strategies, In: Procs 6th Nordic conference on construction economics and organisation, 13-16 April 2011, Danish Building Research Institute, Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark, 577-586.

Laryea, S. (2010) Challenges and opportunities facing contractors in Ghana, In: Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) Procs West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 27-28 July 2010, Accra, Ghana, 215-26.

Laryea, S. and Mensah, S. (2010) The evolution of indigenous contractors in Ghana In: Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) Procs West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 27-28 July 2010, Accra, Ghana, 579-88.

Laryea, S. (2010) Contractor project estimates vs. consultant project estimates in Ghana, In Procs RICS Construction and Building Research Conference, 2-3 Sept. 2010, Dauphine Universite, Paris, France.

Laryea, S. and Mensah, S. (2010) Health and safety on construction sites in Ghana, , In Procs RICS Construction and Building Research Conference, 2-3 Sept. 2010, Dauphine Universite, Paris, France.

Laryea, S. and Hughes, W. (2009) How contractors in Ghana include risk in their bid prices. In: Dainty, A. (Ed) Procs 25th Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2009, Nottingham, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 1295-1304.

Hughes, W. and Laryea, S. (2009) Standardization of procurement: national or international? In: Procs CIB Joint International Symposium: Construction facing worldwide challenges, 27 September-1 October 2009, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Laryea, S. (2008) Risk pricing practices in finance, insurance, and construction, In Procs RICS Construction and Building Research Conference, 4-5 Sept. 2008, Dublin Institute of Technology, Dublin, Ireland.

Laryea, S. (2008) The tendering process and performance analysis of a building project in Ghana, In Procs RICS Construction and Building Research Conference, 4-5 Sept. 2008, Dublin Institute of Tech., Ireland.

Laryea, S. (2007) An experimental approach to project risk identification and prioritization, In Hughes, W. (Ed) Proceedings of the Inaugural Construction Management and Economics ‘Past, Present and Future’ conference, University of Reading, Reading, UK, 1333-1344.

Laryea, S., Badu, E. and Dontwi, I. K. (2007) The price of risk in construction projects: contingency approximation model. In: 5th International Conference on Construction Project Management / 2nd International Conference on Construction Engineering and Management , 1-2 March 2007, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Laryea, S., Badu, E. and Hughes, W.P. (2007) The price of risk in construction projects: choosing of an appropriate research methodology In: Haupt, T and Milford, R (Eds) Procs of CIB World Building Congress: Construction for development. Cape Town, South Africa, 14-17 May 2007, Cape Town: Document Transformation Technologies. CD-ROM, ISBN 1-920-01704-6. pp 51-62.

Laryea, S. and Hughes, W. (2006) The price of risk in construction projects. In: Boyd, D (Ed) Procs 22nd Annual ARCOM Conference, 4-6 September 2006, Birmingham, UK, Association of Researchers in Construction Management, 553-561.

EDITED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS
Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) (2011) Proceedings of the West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 27-28 July 2010, Accra, Ghana. pp. 670 ISBN 978-0-9566060-1-3

Laryea, S., Leiringer, R. and Hughes, W. (Eds) (2010) Proceedings of the West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference, 27-28 July 2010, Accra, Ghana. pp. 670 ISBN 978-0-9566060-0-6

Laryea, S., Hughes, W. and Leiringer, R. (Eds) (2009) Book of abstracts for the West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Workshop, 2-3 June 2009, Accra, Ghana

BOOKS
Laryea, S. (2008) How contractors take account of risk in the tender stage, Unpublished PhD thesis, School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, December 2008

Laryea, S. (2011) Ghana: Education and student leadership, Twickenham: Athena press

Laryea, S. and Hughes, W. (Forthcoming in 2013) Risk and price in construction tendering, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell