CONNECTING TOMORROW’S LEADERS: Companies looking to improve the gender balance of their employee base will struggle because the RICS’ student base continues to be overwhelmingly male.
Speaking at EG’s Connecting Tomorrow’s Leaders event, RICS future talent director Barry Cullen said demand for a more diverse workforce and profession was unlikely to be met quickly as women account for just 24% of its student membership.
“The temperature we take from the industry and the sector is that what are they looking to do is to be businesses of the 21st century,” he said. “They are asking us what are we doing as a professional body to enable them?”
Cullen said the RICS was taking steps to counter the impression that surveying does not seem to offer an exciting path and improve its appeal to both sexes.
“We are about to launch our Inspire 2020 programme, going into schools and talking to children aged 13, 14 and 15. We would welcome ambassadors to come forward.
“And probably the most innovative thing we have ever done at RICS is a virtual reality app, which we’re also taking into schools.”
The RICS has also developed an augmented reality app and is working with vloggers to showcase how an interest in technology, fashion or retail can lead to a career in surveying.
Rebecca Gee, senior lecturer in real estate in Oxford Brookes University’s school of built environment, said she was looking at how diversity could be incorporated into undergraduate courses alongside sustainability and proptech.
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