"Only increasing research and education in the fields of civil engineering, architecture and real estate can bridge the divide between demand and supply of manpower in the field. As it is, with the sector expected to create 50,000 jobs every year for the next five years, steps need to be taken on an urgent basis," says Pradeep Jain, Chairman of the National Capital Region (NCR) chapter of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India's (CREDAI).

The chapter recently announced a tie-up with the University School of Management Studies, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University (GGSIPU) to set up a Centre for Research in Real Estate and Infrastructure Development. This is said by its founders to be the country's first fullfledged institute to offer professional courses and research opportunities to students interested in taking up a career in the real estate.

Here, the students will have a chance to work on real-life infrastructure and real estate development projects to get hands-on experience.

Apart from CREDAI, the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), another apex body of the real estate sector: has been running a certificate course in collaboration with GGSIPU and the Human Settlement Management Institute (HSMI) of the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) for real estate agents, property brokers, sales persons, com- mercial and customer care executives for the past few years now.

Seeing the enormity of the situation, developers too are launching their own courses or tying up with foreign institutes to counter the lack of trained manpower .

Leading the bandwagon is DLF, which is said to be in the process of tying up with US-headquartered Urban Land Institute to set up a branch in Gurgaon. The institute aims to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide.

While DLF officials didn't confirm the plan, industry sources say the ULI, besides helping DLF get trained manpower will benefit from researches the organisation does on land used.

Besides DLF, Emaar-MGF is also planning to launch short-term courses in retail.