USC Launches Undergrad CRE Degree

LOS ANGELES—The University of Southern California has launched a bachelor's degree program in real estate development, becoming one of a handful of schools across the country to recognize the need for interdisciplinary education in the field. The move comes in response to major growth in the industry, which is now largely recognized as an investment class in league with stocks and bonds. The program will seek to educate the next generation of real estate leaders on all aspects of the industry, with a special focus on urbanization and city trends, to better prepare them for graduate school specializations and beyond.

"Real estate is one of those things that is hard to do well if you don't understand how all the parts work together." Christian Redfearn, Borstein Family Endowed Professor of Real Estate and director of real estate programs at USC Price, tells GlobeSt.com.  "From the get go, development requires approval and so the public is involved; it is a physical asset that requires good design to operate well; and, of course, you need a lot of capital, so finance is essential. On top of these, when you make a bet on real estate, you're betting on a neighborhood and city. Understanding how cities change is fundamental to real estate development and investment. The new undergraduate degree is designed to ensure that the undergraduates grasp all these moving parts.  The best professionals understand all the moving parts. We're trying help our undergraduates understand these, too."

The undergraduate program will be all encompassing. In crafting the program, Redfearn has integrated all of the core features of real estate into one program that will help students understand to goals and real-life processes of development, city planning and growth and real estate investment. USC, of course, already has an established real estate graduate program in the USC Price School. The undergraduate program will pull staff from both the graduate program as well as bring in new staff to ensure that students are earning a well-rounded liberal arts degree.

Redfearn is clear, though, that the program is not a merely an extension of the master's program. "W

e have purposefully made sure that this is not a light version of the masters program," he says. "The students will get all the essential basics, but the purview is going to be a little bit broader than just real estate; there is going to be a larger urban context. One of the biggest trends in the planet is urbanization. Getting all those people into cities is going to require both new development and redevelopment of the existing structures.  Our graduates will be able to contribute to both."

As the industry continues to grow, this type of program is likely to become more common, according to Redfearn, who thinks that an integrated education like this is necessary to for career success.