BIM Education: Global Trends, Regional Gaps, and Proposed Framework

Abstract

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry is transitioning from a traditional 2D-based workflow into a digital multi-disciplinary process, and building information modeling has expedited this transition. This global divide in BIM education primarily arises from the disparities in educational offer. The objective of this study is to provide a rigorous, comprehensive, and structured analysis of the global BIM education trends, regional disparities, and curriculum gaps and to develop actionable response strategies to tackle this issue. This paper followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines along with a systematic literature review of 144 peer-reviewed papers extracted from Scopus, Web of Science, ASCE Library, and Google Scholar. To strengthen the methodological quality assessment, the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was applied. The findings revealed a huge global divide, where resource-rich countries characterized by well-developed curricula, integrated, and industry collaboration, whereas resource-constrained countries specifically in Africa and Southeast Asia, suffer from disorganized curricula, poor institutional readiness, and ‘software-centric’ teaching processes. To harmonize these disparities, this study proposed the Global BIM Education Framework (GBEF) – which is centered around four pillars; Pedagogical Pivot, Methodological Standardization, Industry-Academia Symbiosis, and Unified Competency Benchmarking. The GBEF framework treats BIM as a socio-technical process and introduces multi-phase implementation procedures specifically tailored for low-resource institutions.