Exploring the facilities management education needs in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Facilities Management (FM) is a multidisciplinary profession at the core of building operations management. As such, it requires a wide range of skills that differ significantly from region to region due to variable industry sizes, maturity levels, characteristics of building stocks and services, and occupant cultures. Consequently, it is essential to cultivate the necessary knowledge and skills to produce competent FM professionals to cater to the demand of the FM industry. Worldwide, various professional bodies have specified essential competencies for the FM profession. This study aims to reveal the current state of such competencies in the FM industry in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, a scrupulous literature review was conducted to identify the FM competencies. Twelve competency attributes germane to the Sri Lankan context were identified, and subsequently, a web-based questionnaire survey was conducted to analyse their importance and competence levels. The mean ratings were calculated using the received responses and were used to develop an Importance-Competence Analysis (ICA) matrix. The results indicated that ‘operations and maintenance’, ‘leadership’ and ‘technology’ are the prioritised competencies that need improvements through appropriate education and training.