PROFESSIONAL MASTER PROGRAM IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIALIZED IN CONSTRUCTION (MPM) Intake 2013

PROFESSIONAL MASTER PROGRAM IN

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SPECIALIZED IN CONSTRUCTION (MPM) Intake 2013

Introduction

 The Project Management in Construction field of study trains professionals to play a leading role in the international construction industry. It molds students to become active leaders in the construction industry and large construction project.  The program prepares for students:

-    To become outstanding managers and decision-makers familiar with the modern techniques  of construction management, engineering management and infrastructure management.

-    To more competent and capable to manage international large construction projects

-    To be able to assist the corporation to install and develop project management system in a company

 Main Features of the Program

•       One year professional AIT Master’s degree.

•       Credits can be accumulated over two years

•       Certificate course works

•       International field trip to the large construction sites in the region

•       Study language: English.

Program Structure

 AIT Professional Master Program is designed for those engineers who cannot leave their work while following a master program. The program is conducted in one year. To complete the master program, participants need to complete 11 courses and 1 project report with total 33 credits.

In the first two semesters, students will take basic and advanced courses selected in consultation with an academic/thesis advisor from among the regular courses offered at AIT. During the third semester, students will carry out their project study. Students will conduct international field trips:

-          First trip: Study at AIT

-          Second trip: visit to the large construction sites outside Vietnam, such as Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Taiwan or do internship in AIT Thailand

-          Third trip: to AIT to attend Graduation ceremony

AIT certificate can be given for those students who would like to register for a course offered of the AIT Professional master program. Credits gained from certificate courses can be transferred to AIT Professional Master Program.

English Entry Requirement

 AIT is an international institute with English as the sole language of instruction. Admission to AIT requires proof of English language proficiency which may be satisfied in any requirement of the following:

·                     IELTS (4.5)

·                     TOEFL (Paper -based: 500; Computer - Based:173; or Internet - based: 61)

·               AITEET. Applicants can apply for English Test offered by AIT at AIT-VN. English Test fee:  420,000 VND.

Entry Requirements

 To be eligible for admission to the AIT Professional master's program, an applicant must:

·              Hold a Bachelor degree (normally from a four-year program), or its equivalent, in an appropriate field of study.

·                     Have undergraduate grades significantly above average.

·                     Have good command of English

·                     At least three year of working experiences

Application form can be downloaded at www.aitcv.ac.vn . Application submission fee:  420,000 VND. This fee is paid to AITCV when applicants submit the application documents.

Teaching Schedule

 The program is conducted during non-working hours (weekends and evenings)

Faculty  

 Faculties are from Construction Engineering and Infrastructure Management (CEIM) program – AIT and professional experts from industry. CEIM is highly experienced in project management education, from short training programs to master programs, doctoral programs and post-doctoral programs. So far, there are more than 300 masters and 12 doctors graduated in Project Management program and more than 500 trainees from short training programs received certificates offered by CEIM. CEIM also have its strong partnership with government’s construction organizations and industrial zones in providing consultancy services and professional researches to enhance the quality of construction projects.

For AIT Faculty’s profile, please refer to www.set.ait.ac.th/ceim

Curriculum

No	Code	Course
Core course:
1	CE70.12	Organizational Management in Construction
2	CE70.21	Integrated Project Planning and Control
3	CE70.11	Project Cost and Financial Management
4	CE70.44	Communication and Negotiation skills for Project Managers
5	CE70.33	Safety and Health Management in Construction
6	CE70.22	Legal and Contractual Risk Management
7	CE70.43	Project Financing
8	CE70.13	Quality Management
Applied Project Management courses
9		Applied PM in Construction Business and Project  Simulation
10		Applied Project Management in Highway Projects
11		Applied PM in High-rise Building Projects
12		Applied Project Management in Housing and Real Estate Projects
13		Applied Project Management in Commercial Projects
14		Applied Project Management in Public Infrastructure Projects
15		Applied Project Management in Petrochemical Project

English Training Program

 AIT-VN  will conduct 8 weeks intensive English Training for those who need to improve their Academic English Skills before joining the program. The English Training Program also guides participants how to conduct AITEET.

Language

The program is conducted in English

Admission Schedule

For Hanoi & HCMC

Intake	August 2013
Deadline for application	31 July 2013
Deadline for Interview & Test AITEIT	Any time
Intensive English Training	19 March 2013
First class	September 2013

 Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees can be paid as 3 installments and at the beginning of each semester. Total tuition and fees: VND 284,285,625 (VND7,824,375/credit). Break down of tuition and fees is:

1. Registration fee:                      VND 10,432,500

2. Tuition fee for 1st semester:   VND 93,892,500

3. Tuition fee for 2nd semester:  VND 86,068,125

4. 1^st International fieldtrip fee:  VND 15,648,750

(8 days, 7 nights)

5. Tuition fee for 3rd semester:   VND 78,243,750

6. 2^nd and 3^rd Int. fieltrip fee:      VND 32,340,750 ^(*)

* Optional for 2^nd and 3^rd trip. Fee includes: air ticket, transportation, insurance and accommodation.

** R.O.E = 20,865 VND/1 USD. AIT reserves the right to apply the adjust tuition and fees without prior notice.

 Contact:

For morde detailed information please kindly drop at:

www.professionalprojectmanagement.blogspot.com

Asian Institute of Technology in Viet Nam Ha Noi Office		Asian Institute of Technology in Viet Nam HCM Office
Mr. Tran Anh Tuan		Ms. Nguyen Le Tuong
Tel: (84-4) 37669493 (131)		Tel: (84-8) 39107423 (117)
Cell: 01 285 687 168		Cell: 01 285 265 168
Email: anhtuan@aitcv.ac.vn		Email: ngletuong@aitcv.ac.vn

Quality Assurance System of Vietnam to Manage Public Infrastructure

In recent years, Vietnam has been undergoing a very rapid and drastic economic and managerial reform so as to approach the world integration. For a developing country from the poor and long past agriculture like Vietnam, construction is obviously required as the tidal force to build stepping stones. In fact, construction is account for about one – third of gross capital formation to any economy in transition. It is reported that expenditures on infrastructure construction in Vietnam have increased by 6.4%, from US$17.1 million in 2004 to US$18.2 million in 2005. From 2005 to 2009, the volume of investment in infrastructure is estimated to increase two times. More and more, the Asian Development Bank had sanctioned loans worth US$997.5 million to the government for deploying activities in transport and energy, leading to active growth in infrastructure spending over the past few years. It is the vigorous construction of key infrastructure that has laid an essential foundation for the development of the country.

Furthermore, the rate of urbanization is supposed to increase from 26.5% in 2005 to 31.6% in 2015. However, the development also reveals a deficiency of human resources’ capacity and technology to assure the quality of construction works. The number of accidents at construction sites and poor-quality infrastructure works has reached alarming figures. It is reported that accidents in construction, transport and industry projects make up the major proportion of labor accidents causing deaths in Vietnam. In 2008, the figure was almost 30% but it increased sharply to above 50% in 2009 (MOLISA). Occurrence of serious construction accidents or even the collapse of some large-scale infrastructure has caused huge financial and human loss and cast doubt on the reliability of construction works. Especially, when the public infrastructure is mentioned, it involves in the control and reputation of the government. Hence, enhancing construction quality assurance and labor safety is one of the top concerns of leaders of Ministry of Construction and concerned agencies.

Mr. Le Quoc Anh made a case study aimed to: (i) study the current quality management regulation in Vietnam; (ii) discuss the strength and weakness of quality control & quality assurance system in Vietnam; and (iii) study and analyze the application of this quality in a project

Conclusion

 As playing an important role in construction management, the quality assurance system of Vietnam government is supposed to audit and certify the quality of public infrastructure in the true and actual fact, not in theory or paperwork. As a developing country with the economy in transition and the huge volume in fundamental infrastructure construction, Vietnam is calling for the foreign investment, even in the state owned works, so the legal framework of Vietnam is hoped to become comfortable and integrated with the common playing – ground for all inbound and out bound investors. A transparent legal framework can assure the quality of construction from the commencement to the finish.

On the analytical base, it can be seen that the quality of construction works in Vietnam has been influenced by many factors, happening in every phase of construction process or commission process. Human or non-human factors have both direct and indirect influence on the quality of construction works.

Besides, the legal system in Vietnam has overlapped among regulations related to the quality. Vietnam government makes law impractical, resulting in complicate mending or misunderstanding application, even contrary among construction units.

Recommendation For Ha Noi – Hai Phong Expressway Project

The VIDIFI recommendations that can be proposed are as follows:

1. Increase the activeness for supervision consultancy unit by assigning the right and acceptance for regular works or categories. No need to wait for the acceptance from the investors.

2. The investors and the consultants cooperate to review all project standards to restrict risks if material or design changes.

3. Request contractors to change construction methods properly with new standards.

His thesis abstract is copied and posted below.

Abstract

In recent years, Vietnam has been undergoing the very rapid and drastic economic and managerial reform so as to approach the world integration. For a developing country from the poor and long past agriculture like Vietnam, construction is obviously required as the tidal force to build steeping stones. In fact, construction is account for about one – third of gross capital formation to our economy in transition. However, the drastic and rapid development in Vietnam also reveals a deficiency of human resources’ capacity and technology to assure the quality of construction works. The number of accidents at construction sites and poor-quality infrastructure works has reached alarming figures. Hence, enhancing construction quality assurance and labor safety is one of the top concerns of leaders of Ministry of Construction and concerned agencies. This paper focuses on studying quality assurance system (framework) of Vietnam government aiming to manage public infrastructure projects. Throughout the study, the strength and weakness of the system can be pointed out to discuss lessons learnt so that recommendation for improvement of the legal framework can be demonstrated.

Quality Management Systems for Design Firm

Innovation Design Company (IDC) was founded in 2009. The main field of IDC is consultancy in architecture and construction design especially in small and medium project such as luxury low-rise building and villas. Customers that IDC have been focused are high-income customers and foreign. IDC's initial goal is providing high quality products with competitive prices compared to other consulting firms in the country as well as foreign companies in Vietnam.

However, after more than two years, IDC does not achieve the goals. In IDC, the design process is mainly based on the experience of principal engineers and architects, and almost has had no specific design process that is applied to the entire system. In fact, there are many projects that spent cost, time and manpower to redesign which affected IDC’s irrevocable capital and credibility with clients.

Facing the requirements to meet their own quality policy as well as pressure from domestic competitors and foreign, IDC found that the establishment of a quality management system process design is not lack. These projects have to propose quality management system in design for IDC.

Mr. Dinh Trung Thanh made a case study aimed to: (i) Design QMS for design firm; (ii) Establish the design procedure and quality management system that meet the quality policy of IDC and the standards of Vietnam as well as international; and (iii) Evaluate the quality management system after applied in IDC.

Conclusion

The proposed QMS basically meets the requirements to control the quality of design in IDC. The QMS clearly identify the responsibilities of all members of the system as well as individual responsibility in each period of design in ensuring that the design meets the requirements of the customer and the current standards of Vietnam.

Besides, the proposed QMS also ensure that the information in the system is communicated clearly and unalterable through input design system, manage and storage documents, and document control. In Design Company, the communication is consistent and clearly is a very important factor to ensure the correct design with the requirements of the clients as well as the construction standards.

With proposed QMS, the most important factors to ensure the success of the system include:

1. Accurate evaluation of customer requirements

2. Input data application to project (specification)

3. Internal audit.

4. The process of check and review of the principal architects and engineers.

5. Connectivity of the members and awareness of quality in design.

The QMS system proposed is consistent with the scale and the current goals of the IDC. With the successful application of QMS in the future, IDC may require the organization to evaluate and receive ISO certification. With ISO certification achieved, the quality of the design of the IDC is as good as international quality; on the other hand the reputation in the market is better as well as the credibility with customers.

Limitations of the proposed QMS are not creating more value for consulting services as well as product design. However, with current and potential target of the IDC, the application of TQM is beyond. IDC can improve and develop on the basis elements of ISO then apply the elements of TQM to develop the new stage.

His thesis abstract is copied and pasted below.

Abstract

In construction industry, a project is known to be successful when it meets three fundamental criteria such as finishing on time within the budget, the prescribed quality requirements such as satisfying customer’s demand and adapt safety in operation stage. However, most of construction project in Vietnam have had problems with the quality therefore, the time is often delay and the cost is out of control. So, solving these problems has become more and more important in project management in Vietnam.

In fact, there are many reasons cause the quality problems in construction project. Follow the informal investigations, there are:

- Goal and vision of investor.

- Quality of consultant and design.

- Check and review design.

- Quality control in Tender activity

- Quality control in Construction phase.

- Quality of human resource.

- Quality in consultant and design is very important in a project from start to the end.

However in Vietnam, there are a lot of consultant and design firm have no Quality management system (QMS), or QMS is not effective, especially the medium and small firms.

This report will assess and analyze quality factor in Consultant and design, and propose a quality management system for medium and small architecture firm.

Interface Management for Conflicts Avoidance between Owner, Employer’s Representative, and Contractors in High-Rise Building Projects

Generally, construction’s conflicts arise from a problem that has not been resolved by daily management and the parties. Traditionally, even in current contractual provisions too, owner or consultant continually transferring the risks to the contractors, which have been resulted high contingencies to their bids to cover the costs of risk (Acharya et al., 2006). However, problems can be originated from various sources, for example, nature of a project, contract system, outside forces, etc, that can lead to conflicts. The nature of a project can produce problems as it is complex, uncertain, dynamic environment, and the most fragmented industry.

Uncertainty in the project can lead to conflicts as every detail of a project cannot be planned before work begins. When uncertainty is high, initial drawings and specifications will be likely to change, and the project members will have to resolve problems during the construction. Moreover, according to Barrie and Pualsan (1992), the construction industry is a paradox in many ways. Each of its elements, designers, contractors, regulators, consumers, suppliers, and crafts, can be highly skilled in its own area, yet there is a little general perspective on how all the pieces fit together.

Furthermore, the construction contract itself may be the source of problems that lead to disputes and conflicts. As for construction projects, it is very difficult to state expectations and requirements with precision in any written agreement. Potential problem areas include ambiguities, omissions, conflicts, adjustment clauses, multiple prime contracts, fast-track construction, and unrealistic performance time.

A building or civil engineering project can commonly span 5, 10 or more years from the initial concept until settlement of the final account and/ or resolution of all claims. This considerable time span has four significant phases: (1) pre-tender; (2) contract formulation; (3) construction; and (4) post-completion, relative to the life cycle of claims which might arise on the project (Hughes et al., 1992). In addition, according to Adnan Enshassi et al. (2008), construction disputes and conflicts can occur in both publicly and privately funded projects, and in projects with small, as well as large funding. Also, conflicts can occur between the owner (and owner’s representative) and a contractor and between a contractor and a subcontractor. Therefore, all participants on the project should fully understand the claim process.

As there are many causes that can lead to conflict in the construction, for example, change or variation orders, delay caused by owner, oral change orders by owner, and etc, analyzing the various types and causes of conflicts is an important task to resolving these conflicts (Ren et al.,2003). Since project participants are becoming more aware of the high costs and risks associated with conflicts and their litigation. As the costs of dealing with them often is greater than the cost of dealing with the problems when they first arise. Therefore, it is important for all participants in the project to be committed to solving problems as they crop up. The figure below shows the “Escalating Nature of Problems”

Mr. Porntanat Kongsrisawat made a case study to emphasize potential problems which are engendered from the construction contract and claim identification process. Problem areas in the construction contract are multiple prime contracts.

Multiple Prime Contracts

Generally, multiple prime contracts, the owner contracts directly with the several major specialized trades’ contractors. Typically, multiple prime contracts consist of general construction, HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning), plumbing, electrical, site work, and any special construction as shown figure below. 

Bramble et al. (1990) states that many industry commentators have bemoaned the problems of multiple prime contracts. Problems may arise from multiple prime contracts as the responsibility for coordinating among them usually falls upon the owner. As a result, the separate prime contractors have to coordinate among themselves that no one contractor has contractual authority or economic power to necessitate the other contractors to carry out in a certain manner. Another problem is the lines of responsibilities and accountability under multiple contracts is less clear than a single contract system. So, one party may exceed the bounds of its responsibilities and infringe upon the other’s responsibilities. On the other hand, some tasks may not be carried out by any party as a failure to fulfill the contractual responsibilities. Such a problem can be led to an interference claim.

The problem as “Difficulties in detecting any problems during the work due to high workload” is very interesting as any problems are seedbed that can lead to claim. If we can identify the problems then the next process of claim management can be performed with the right manner. In addition, it is very important for detecting problems as we can provide in all fairness to the party who suffered from such problems.

In order to clearly identify the scope of work and responsibilities of many contractors in relation to each other, the objectives of Mr. Kongsrisawat’s research were to: (i) explore and investigate interface problems that lead to conflict issues during construction phase among multiple prime contractors; (ii) investigate the existing practices according to the interface management that lead to conflicts among multiple prime contractors in accordance with the first objective; and (iii) propose recommended practices of proper coordination to prevent problems among multiple prime contractors.

Conclusion

Coordination in construction phase which leads to make efficient flow of working among multiple prime contractors is the main aim of this research. To achieve this aim, this research was conducted to achieve these three main objectives: (1) To explore and investigate interface problems that lead to conflict issues among multiple prime contractors involved in high-rise building construction; (2) To investigate the existing practices according to the interface management that lead to conflicts among multiple prime contractors on the construction site; and (3) To propose recommended practices of proper coordination to prevent problems among multiple prime contractors in construction project.

The research began by literature review to investigate the interface description and coordination task. The problems among multiple prime contractors in construction phase were verified by gathering data from the construction site in Thailand construction to fulfill the first objective. Continuing, the researcher investigate the existing process of management related with 4 main category of work; planning/ scheduling, coordination, controlling, and procurement that lead to problems.

Research Findings

1.  Key Personnel Job Responsibility in Construction Phase in High-Rise Building

Project

The first objective of this research found the key functional responsibility of the owner, construction manager, project manager, project engineer, and senior site engineer. It would be useful for them to avoid overlapping of responsibility during construction phase as there are a lot of activities for performing. The personnel responsibility has been arranged into the 5 main category of work which including planning/ scheduling, controlling, procurement, coordination, and law. Besides, this study is also concentrate on problems that arise during construction phase which has impact on time, cost, and quality of the project. After getting all activities in each category of work as in the first part, the table of personnel responsibility by interview is fulfilled all activities and who to responsible for them.

2. Recommendations for Proper Coordination to Prevent Problems among Multiple Prime Contractors

Coordination of drawings and specifications are considered as the most priority during management in construction enterprise as it provides the smooth in process of working among multiple prime contractors. In order to accomplish the project on-time within budget, all obstructs need to be eliminated, reduced, or controlled. Recommendations for making effective and proper coordinate are the last part of thesis findings, and they were summarized in table below.

3.  Summary of Recommendations for making proper coordination among multiple prime contractors is tabled below.

  

His thesis abstract is copied and pasted below.

Abstract

The characteristics of construction projects are always multidisciplinary, large, and required many different parties to participate during execution period. During certain stages, some phases may very often be undertaken simultaneously, requiring major efforts in terms of the coordination and communication between the participants. However, the principal person charged with coordination in construction projects delivered through construction management is the construction manager (CM).

However, some of the disruptions that might be occurred during execution stage, especially conflicts among the participants are originated from the contractual arrangement. The type of contract that generates problems and lead to conflicts is multiple prime contracts which highly been applied by the employer nowadays as it provides lower cost to the employer when compare with another type of contract, single contract. The multiple prime contracts, the owner will contract directly to prime contractor, including General Contractors (structural and architectural works), M/E Contractor (sanitary system, electrical system, air-conditioning system works), Finishing Contractor, Aluminum Contractor, and Interior Contractor. According to the schedule of the project, some works they have to perform work together at the same time which work of one prime contractor can affect to another prime contractor. As a result, those problems will effect to the project in term of time, cost, and quality. To prevent or reduce problems among multiple prime contractors, the employer and employer’s representative must play a significant role in managing them.

From the research, to avoid problems that can lead to conflicts in the construction project among the participants, especially the employer, employer’s representative, and prime contractors, they have to concern the source problems areas. The origin of problems that they have to concern is drawings and specifications, coordination with related parties, and material and equipment.