Developing an Integration Framework for Property Technology (PropTech) and Innovation in Real Estate Education

In the last decade, IT and digital systems have silently become pervasive in traditional real estate markets, creating a contemporary branch of real estate typically referred to as “PropTech” (property technology). Despite the advancement of property technology and innovations over the last few decades, there has been a disproportionate growth in related scholarly work, particularly in the area of PropTech education. Furthermore, there is no evidence-based approach to developing a Property Technology and innovation educational framework for higher institutions. This research, therefore, develops a practical and pedagogical framework to enhance and sustain the integration and delivery of technology and innovation in real estate higher education. Using a stakeholder and analytical approach, we conduct several interviews and focus group sessions with senior managers and CEOs of leading real estate and PropTech firms in the UK. In addition to these, we conduct further interviews with heads of real estate departments, senior real estate educators and professional bodies (RICS and UK PropTech Association). We thereafter design a practical and pedagogical framework for PropTech and real estate innovation in real estate higher education (referred to as PEIF). The PEIF proposes a blended approach of integration, involving the development of a module to introduce property technology and innovation in the real estate higher education curriculum, while simultaneously incorporating technology and innovation in the already existing real estate modules. This framework, to the best of our knowledge, is the first PropTech education integration framework that has been developed using extensive empirical evidence; it is thus valuable to real estate educators and higher education institutions.