Pursuing Organisational Change in Construction Education by Implementing Change Projects

The university colleges in Denmark are progressively confronted with new educational policies, where adaptation presupposes that the individual educational department facilitates organisational change. In this study, we describe and analyse how the Department of Construction at University College Lillebaelt (UCL) has strived to adapt to new educational policies by implementing change projects. Specifically, we examine the implementation of the two change projects entitled ‘Bridge building’ and ‘Capacity development’ and explain how aspects of organisational life (i.e. structure, identity and routines) develop and alter as a result of the change processes. The study empirically draws on interviews and workshops conducted between 2018 and 2021. In the analysis, we show that the department, in the Bridge building project, implements changes in the study programme on Architectural Technology and Construction Management to adapt to educational policies demanding a strengthened quality of education. In addition, we show that the department, in the Capacity development project, implements changes internally in the department to adapt to educational policies demanding an increased involvement in research and development activities. In the discussion and conclusions, we explain that the top management of UCL redirects the practical efforts required to adapt to new educational policies into the educational departments. We also demonstrate that the department is experiencing a pressure to implement change projects in order to adapt to new educational policies and thereby ensure quality education.