17th PAQS Congress Recap

by Ian Duncan, PQS(F)

This year’s Congress was held May 18-21, 2013 in Xi’an, China and what pleasure was to have such great support from the CIQS contingent.

Our party of delegates included Mark Russell, CIQS President, David Lai and Andrew Collins for Education, James Benham for research, golf and CIQS international interests from Texas; not to mention my ever supportive wife Tyra.

The Congress took the usual format with golf and Committee meetings on the first day, a full day Board meeting on the second day and two days of technical presentations and tours. The closing ceremonies completed the program on day four.

CEEC Relations

I am pleased to report that through the connections that were made with CEEC by Mark Russell and previous CIQS international representatives, CIQS were able to facilitate introductions for M. Pascal Asselin to the current President of PAQS, Mr. Gordon Cairney from NZIQS.

M. Pascal Asselin, from UNTEC (France), who was recently elected as the new President of CEEC (Conseil Euopean des Economistes de la Construction; The Council of European Construction Economists). This further solidifies the CIQS on the international stage.

Education Committee

During the 2013 PAQS Education Committee meeting, the following items were discussed:

The application by Unitec (New Zealand) to extend their accreditation for another two years. The committee agreed with the recommendation of the accreditation team to grant the extension.

Discussion on the use of the terms ‘ReAccreditation’ and ‘Subsequent Accreditation.’ It was agreed that ‘Re-Accreditation’ should be used when partial accreditation was granted initially and the institution re-applies for full accreditation, and ‘Subsequent Accreditation’ be used when the

initial full accreditation expires and the institution re-applies for accreditation.

The accreditation of the fast-track MSc degree program in Quantity Surveying. Many members felt that we should not be granting accreditation to those programs where the prerequisites do not include an initial BSc degree or an Advanced diploma in Quantity Surveying. It was also noted that each member association would be doing the initial accreditation and their recommendation should indicate whether or not the Education Committee can grant accreditation.

It was noted that there are very few universities that have full accreditation from PAQS. Various strategies were discussed on how to encourage other universities to apply. It was agreed that a brochure should be developed to identify the benefits of accreditation which should include input from the currently accredited universities. This brochure will be sent to all universities and colleges in the member countries. Mr. Andrew Collins PQS(F) has agreed to produce this brochure.

Research Committee

This is a short note to say that this committee is comprised mainly of academics and forms the basis for all the technical sessions. Moves are afoot to restructure this approach and we are assured that when it is the turn of New Zealand, there will be more industry involvement. When it is our turn to host the Congress, I encourage the organizers in British Columbia to follow New Zealand’s lead.

Pascal Asselin, CEEC chair, and Mark Russell

PAQS Young Surveyors

This group held their meetings in advance of the main event and I understand that it was well attended and very productive.

Unfortunately, we do not have a representative on this committee.

Sustainability Committee

I am the chair of this committee and it was the launch of a new direction. The turn out by members was very poor and efforts need to be made by members to participate.

Mark Russell, Ian Duncan, David Lai and Andrew Collii David Lai

Tours

In addition to the high speed train visit, delegates had the opportunity to visit the site of the Terracotta Warriors, ride on the ancient city wall and see other memorable sites of this former capital city.

There were also opportunities to visit Beijing and Shanghai after the Congress which some took advantage of.

Next Congress

The next congress will be held in Hong Kong to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (HKIS).

The 18th Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors Congress will be held June 7-10, 2014. Visit the website www.paqs2014.com for information or see page 22 in this issue of Construction Economist.

Conclusion

It was an outstanding event and all those representing Canada and the CIQS did so with respect and enthusiasm. We can be proud.

Please visit the CECA website for more details on the congress.

Bravo et Merci, suite de la page 28 Ishrat gardent l’Institut en fonction sur une base quotidienne, mais l’Institut ne peut pas continuer de fonctionner de cette façon. Le fardeau de travail et le rythme auquel notre administration opère ne sont pas tenables et nous devons développer un plan stratégique de succession qui comportera l’addition de nouveaux postes comme celui d’un Directeur du membership et de la formation à plein temps, ainsi qu’un Webmestre à temps partiel. Il serait souhaitable de traiter ces trois points cette année, mais fiscalement parlant, l’ICÈC peut être limité, aussi une évaluation adéquate est requise.

Ces trois tâches vont consommer la majorité du temps du Conseil mais nous allons continuer d’avancer le travail de chacun des comités. J’encourage les membres à lire le Plan d’affaires et de stratégie à long terme développé par le Conseil, facilité par ACMES et que vous trouverez sur le site internet. Ceci résume les objectifs et priorités du Conseil pour les quelques prochaines années.

En terminant, j’aimerais exprimer mon enthousiasme et ma confiance dans la capacité du nouveau Conseil de réaliser les tâches à accomplir et à continuer la gestion des affaires de l’Institut d’une manière professionnelle et directe. Si l’un des membre désire me contacter pour discuter de n’importe quel sujet se rapportant à l’Institut, il est invité à m’envoyer un courriel à president@ciqs.org ou à téléphoner à l’Institute au numéro sans frais 1-866-345-1168.

Congratulations

to the following members who have qualified as a PQS or CEC (including reinstatements):

CIQS – British Columbia

Mark Edwards, CEC

CIQS – Ontario

Wasim Hussein, PQS Jitendrakumar Patel, CEC Yan (Judy) Shen, PQS Mark Smith, PQS Jeyakaran Vellauthapillai, PQS CIQS – Prairies and NWT

Vipulchandra Bakre, PQS Connor Falls, PQS Frederick Nieuwenhuizen, PQS David Tanner, PQS Erik von der Behrens, CEC John Walsh, PQS CIQS – Quebec

Liliane Bédar, PQS Erik Gervais, CEC

CIQS Members at Large

Alister Cull, PQS Dhammika Gamage, PQS

Mark Gardin, PQS CPD updates CPD on the new website The CPD module is now installed and running on our new website. Although there is still much to do to populate CPD opportunities, the website will be an immense improvement for our CPD program and it will create a single area that consolidates our CPD program and gives members a wide variety of resources to achieve CPD activities.

The biggest and best innovation for CPD is the ability for members to record and maintain their CPD activities on the website in the Members Only section. This is a tremendous tool for both members and Council. Members can instantly update their CPD activities and keep a running total of their points annually. And this tool makes administering CPD audits quite simple and saves a great deal of administration time and effort. We encourage all members to start using this tool to record their CPD activities. CPD 2011 audit The 2011 CPD Audit is now complete. Fifty members representing 5% of active qualified members received their letters in early February. The results for this year saw 43 passes, one failure, and six with no submission which has led to their termination.

Moving forward, the CPD committee will look at more ways to better communicate the process of the CPD audit so that members do not feel overwhelmed if they do receive an audit letter. Audit submissions should be brief and take no longer than a few hours to complete. CPD improvements There have been several improvements made to the CPD program over the past few years and include: CPD Declaration form - changing the wording from ‘related to the profession’ to ‘related to industry’; eliminating maximum points in each category except Professional Activity; CPD point tracker on the website.

Improving the CPD program has been and will always be continuous. There are still more improvements scheduled for the coming year(s).

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