Understanding Civil Engineering and Architectural Engineering Students’ Perceptions about BIM Practices

The use of BIM within construction industry is experiencing development. However, the development of BIM in Indonesia is still very limited. One of the inhibiting factors in the development of BIM is the inadequate availability of BIM specialists and professionals in the construction industry so that an active role of students is needed as the main target in meeting the needs of the construction industry in Indonesia. This research was conducted to analyze the perceptions of students of the Sriwijaya University in the civil engineering and architecture study programs regarding perceptions of knowledge, benefits, adoption, and development of BIM. This study used a quantitative approach. Data collection was carried out using a questionnaire. It was stated that ‘BIM technology and concepts are important for students to learn’ was to be the highest rank with an average score of 4.70 for Civil Engineering and 4.56 for architecture students. The result shows that the benefits of BIM that influence the most in the construction industry are to improve the quality of construction and enhance design visualization. The most significant driving factor on the development and adoption of BIM is education and training on using BIM software. In addition, the most significant inhibiting factors that influence the development and adoption of BIM are lack of education or training on the use of BIM and lack of knowledge on how to implement BIM software.


INTRODUCTION
Construction technology is at a development stage with rapid progress. One of the technologies in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector that is developing and has quite a lot of enthusiasts in the world is Building Information Modeling (BIM). BIM is defined as a digital representation of 3D modeling that could facilitate a precise modeling of a building system [1]. The concept of BIM is not just a software technology, but also as a holistic process that represents the attribute of a building component [2]. Based on the Regulation of the Minister of Public Works and Public Housing No. 22/2018 concerning State Building Construction [3], the buildings with an area of more than 2,000 m 2 are required to use BIM. It is evident that the government has contributed to the development of technological innovation in the world of construction.
The benefits of using BIM in construction projects as a means of communication among stakeholders [4]. The results showed that BIM can be effectively used as a means of communication among stakeholders to improve collaboration and information sharing. A study of [5] highlighted the use of BIM at the design stage. It was found that BIM software enabled the architect and engineer to modify building components during modeling which eventually can help the owners for decision making related to incurred costs and work progress. Mieslenna and Wibowo [6] studied the application of BIM in the Indonesian construction industry based on the user's perspective. The results showed that the benefits of BIM were to control the construction projects, estimate costs, avoid rework and save human resources. The inhibiting factors for BIM adoption are considerable investment needs, availability of BIM specialists, sustainable training needs, and transition of work culture from conventional to BIM. Ramadhani [7] on the perception of university of UPI students about the use of BIM in the era of industrial revolution 4.0 stated that the level of knowledge of UPI students about the existence of BIM fell into a very high category.
The use of BIM in construction projects provides benefits to improve the quality of construction products and enables more sustainable building designs [8]. A study by [9] regarding the comparison of the BIM method with conventional methods, it was said that BIM can improve scheduling accuracy by 50%, improve the accuracy of cost estimation by 52.25% and reduce human resources used by 26.66%. It has been proved that the role of BIM to make the construction world in Indonesia gain more attention. However, the development of BIM in Indonesia is still very limited and in slow progress [2]. A study of [10] investigated students' perception on BIM application using a survey for construction management students. This study found that most students agreed to incorporate the BIM into construction management course program. The students were also aware of the importance of BIM education to get a job within construction industry. BIM adoption within AEC industry in Indonesia and found that the lack of awareness and understanding about BIM could impede its adoption [11].
According to [6], the inhibiting factors in the adoption of BIM and the development of BIM in Indonesia are the transition of work culture from conventional to BIM, the need for large investments, availability of specialists or professionals in BIM, as well as the needs for continuous training. Furthermore, one of the inhibiting factors in the development of BIM is the availability of inadequate BIM specialists and professionals in the construction industry. Therefore, an active role of students is required as the main target in meeting the needs of the construction industry in Indonesia. The students in universities need to gain basic knowledge about BIM technology and engaged in the development of BIM as BIM continues to evolve. This study was conducted to analyze the perception of students of civil engineering and architecture study program in the University of Sriwijaya in terms of knowledge, benefits, and adoption of BIM as well as perceptions about the development of BIM. It is perceived that the students at University of Sriwijaya have had the basic knowledge regarding BIM knowledge since there have been some seminars or trainings held for the last 2 years in 2019-2021. Descriptive analysis was conducted to rank the level of importance of the identified variables based on students' perceptions. Likert scale was used to assess for the variables based on previous research as seen in Table 1. The data processing of the questionnaire results was carried out using SPSS programs. The criteria in the validity test used an error rate of 5%. For the validity test, if r statistics is higher than r critical then the data obtained is declared valid. Conversely, if r statistics is smaller than r critical then the data obtained is declared invalid. The criteria for reliability tests are Cronbach alpha values over 0.6 which means they have a strong relationship. Ref [4] Ref [5] Ref [12] Ref [6] Ref [7] Ref [13] Basic Understanding about BIM Knowledge of the concept of BIM in the world of construction Improve scheduling and planning accuracy  √  -----√  Improve the accuracy of project cost estimates  √  -- √ Support or encouragement in the development and adoption of BIM Industry awareness or market trend for BIM implementation

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The respondent data were used to determine the characteristics of civil engineering and architecture students of Sriwijaya University based on their department, gender and class year as seen in Table 2 and 3 below.

Basic Understanding of BIM Knowledge
Based on Table 5, it was stated that 'BIM technology and concepts are important for students to learn' was at the highest rank with an average score of 4.70 for Civil Engineering and 4.56 for architecture students. This indicates that most students strongly agree with the perception about BIM technology and concept. The number of students who strongly agree with this perception means that civil engineering and architecture students already realize BIM is an important technology in the construction industry. The lack of engineers in the construction industry who understand about BIM indicates the urgency for students to learn BIM. Before entering the world of work, it is essential for students to have basic knowledge gained in the university and get better prepared to enter the world of work. The students have positive perceptions related to the basic understanding of BIM in terms of the needs to adopt BIM and to incorporate BIM into curriculum [14]. Due to the substantial and rapid demand of BIM within the construction industry, there is an urgency to implement BIM starting at the university level into its real practices. The study of Ramadhani [7] also showed that students have been familiar with the BIM term, and have basic knowledge of BIM. As it is perceived that BIM knowledge has not been incorporated in the curriculum, and many students learn BIM out of their course class. Thus, the students learn BIM through their individual learning.

Benefits of BIM
Based on Table 6, the civil engineering students perceived the most important benefits of BIM is to create and to improve the quality of construction in Indonesia with an mean value of 4.54. Prior to BIM technology, the project construction is mostly dominated by using conventional methods with a design in the form of 2D. Although the conventional methods are still used nowadays but conventional methods are not carried out in a coordinated and integrated manner. However, the concept of BIM can be conducted in a coordinated and integrated process. The collaboration and integration with BIM is able to facilitate construction work from the planning stage to the maintenance of a building construction. BIM can visualize the construction design in 3D not only in real time, but also a variety of information on construction such as materials, precision, costs that will certainly improve the communication of related parties. This indicates the concept of BIM to improve the quality of construction in Indonesia. The architecture students perceived the most significant benefit of BIM is to make visualizations more efficiently and virtually as seen in Table  10. Since architects mainly focused on design, they tend to highlight on visualization of drawings. This suggests BIM could indicate the real world of visualization. The design using BIM can be performed more effectively since BIM offers accuracy, more information with minimum errors. The rank of BIM benefit for civil engineering and architecture students can be seen in Table 6 and 7. Reduce design changes in the construction phase 3.86 8 M3 Supporting the work without face-to-face 3.82 9

Use of BIM applications or software
This section presented the number of students who have known the types of BIM software as well as the BIM software commonly used by the students. Figure 1 displayed that most students both civil engineering and architecture students are familiar with Sketchup, Tekla, ArchiCAD, Revit as BIM software. Meanwhile, Figure 2 indicated that most student also have used BIM software such as Sketchup, Tekla, ArchiCAD, Revit during their study in the university. It can also be seen that the most used and known software by students is Sketchup while others are moderately used. The students also identified other software that they get familiar with but not included in types of BIM software.   Table 8 and 9 presented perception about the development and adoption of BIM among students of Civil Engineering and architecture. Based on the results analysis, it was found that a need of training to learn BIM software was the most influential supporting factors in the development and adoption of BIM both for civil engineering and architecture students. BIM software training is necessary for students to operate and understand BIM software well so that the development and adoption of BIM increases. It is expected that training students can also improve their ability and qualifications to compete in the world of work.

Benefits of BIM
This section discussed the students' perception on the barriers of BIM development and adoption. As seen in Table 10 and 11, it was found that the lack of education or training on the use of BIM has become the major barrier to adopt BIM among students. The poor education and training about BIM could result in poor knowledge about BIM and inability to operate BIM technology. It is inevitable that to implement BIM software certainly requires knowledge to operate. The software cannot run properly and give benefits if the user is unable to use the software. Therefore, training on BIM is required to improve the knowledge and ability of students to use BIM. In terms of barriers, similar study of Wong and Gray [15] indicated that the lack of training and education had become the most significant barrier towards BIM adoption not only within university students but also in construction industry. There is a need to overcome the barriers to increase the productivity and efficiency of the construction industry through BIM education and training among stakeholders.

CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis, it was concluded that 'BIM technology and concepts are important for students to learn' was at the highest rank with an Mean value of 4.70 for Civil Engineering and 4.56 for architecture students. This indicates that most students strongly agree with the perception about BIM technology and concept. The civil engineering students perceived the most important benefits of BIM is to create and to improve the quality of construction in Indonesia with an Mean value of 4.54. Prior to BIM technology, the project construction is mostly dominated by using conventional methods with a design in the form of 2D. Although the conventional methods are still used nowadays. However, the conventional methods are not carried out in a coordinated and integrated manner.
The need of training to learn BIM software was the most influential supporting factors in the development and adoption of BIM both for civil engineering and architecture students. BIM software training is necessary for students to operate and understand BIM software well so that the development and adoption of BIM could increase. It is expected that training students can also improve their ability and qualifications to compete in the world of work. It was also found that the lack of education or training on the use of BIM has become the major barrier to adopt BIM among the students.