DENVER—Seasoned real estate professionals say they wish they'd had a college commercial real estate curriculum so they'd have been better-equipped to handle the industry, university CRE-program faculty members tell GlobeSt.com. We spoke with several college-level CRE educators about these programs and why they are so valuable for today's young professionals. Stay tuned for a more in-depth feature on the evolution of university commercial real estate programs in the July/August issue of Real Estate Forum.

“Real estate has strategic partnerships with the industry,” Jeff Engelstad, CCIM, clinical professor, Burns School of Real Estate & Construction Management, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, tells GlobeSt.com. “Real estate is a wonderful discipline because of its connection to the real industry and its strategic partnerships with CCIM, NAIOP, the Appraisal Institute, etc., so during the course of their education, a student might not just get their degree in real estate, but they might also come out with an MAI or a LEED designation. One thing I know from having students interact with real estate professionals outside of the classroom is that professionals always remark how they wish they'd had a program like this in college so they'd have been better equipped to handle the industry.”

Shawn D. Howton, PhD, Villanova University faculty director, Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate, Associate Professor of Finance, Villanova, PA, tells GlobeSt.com that real estate is an evolving field that he believes will be part of most business schools within the next decade. “Real estate is the third largest asset class and is a $10-trillon-plus domestic business. Real estate and the built environment touch the lives of every single person on an ongoing basis. How we work, play and live in the coming decades will be determined by students coming out of real estate programs right now. How to build, finance and design the built environment is impactful, so providing tomorrow's real estate leaders with a large toolbox is the most important part of the choices we make as real estate educators every day.”