Many takers for realty courses

Educational institutes are slowly catching up with the concept of real estate education in the country.

Consider this. The Indian Institute of Real Estate (IIRE) "" affiliated to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), the leading real estate association in USA which offers real estate certification programs online in India since 2003 "" had only a few registrations till the end of 2006.

However, from the beginning of this year, the institute is looking at close to 50 students signing up for its eight-month diploma course in Principles and Practices in Real Estate.

The sudden enthusiasm in registrations has also led the institute to think of a satellite programme in real estate.

For this, it is in talks with the Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE) to beam a satellite diploma programme in Real Estate Principles and Management which, if accepted, will see the programme transmitted to nearly 50 affiliated colleges in Maharashtra.

The proposed programme could be a short term course for around two-and-a-half months or a long duration programme of around eight months. The fee for the short-term programme has not been decided as of yet but the eight-month programme could cost close to Rs 8,500.

"With the FDI policy in the real-estate sector getting liberalised and players in India and abroad coming up with ambitious projects, there is now a new breed of young professionals, MBA, engineering and architecture students who are looking at a diploma in real estate as an additional qualification, " said Suresh Malkani, Dean, IIRE.

Similarly, as reported by this paper earlier, the demand for courses in real estate has led London-based Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to explore 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.

Most of the business schools in the country are now offering real estate as an elective course in their curriculum and have started inviting top real estate developers in the country for informal sessions and industry lectures.

Even institutes like IITs have started looking at the technology side of real estate. IIT-Powai's office of Continuing Education Programme (CEP) recently organised a programme on IT for real estate at its campus.

In fact, such is the demand for more reference material on the real estate market in India among students that the Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad, has established the country's first research chair for 'Real Estate and Urban Studies'.

Indu Projects Ltd (IPL), a Hyderabad-based leading real estate and infrastructure company has agreed to make a grant of Rs 2.5 crore for a period of five years for the chair, which will function under the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurial Development (WCED) at ISB.

The institute also held an interactive meet on 'Real Estate in India - the Research Imperative' in association with consultants Ernst & Young which has seen response from students across the country.

Interestingly, for many real estate developers, these specialised courses are news.

"Usually civil engineers serve the purpose as far as real estate jobs are concerned. Also, in-house and on-the-job training is always there. I don't know if there are any institutes offering specialised courses in real estate. But if there are, then there is a huge market awaiting for them", says Sandeep Jain, Managing Director, Parsvanath Developers .

According to the 'Future of Real Estate Investment in India', a study published by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, the $16 billion strong Indian real estate market shall reach nearly $60 billion by 2010.