Pilot Study - Understanding Student's Perceptions of Cultural Dimensions in construction majors in Ecuador: Deconstructing barriers between architecture and civil engineering students

Designing infrastructure demands architects and civil engineers to converge into an effective workflow in the real world. However, this type of collaboration is almost non-existent in most academic settings. In fact, students are taught different approaches to design and problem-solving which can translate into issues and delays at work. As a result, the purpose of this study is to explore how architecture and civil engineering students perceive different dimensions associated with culture. We are applying Hofstede's theory of dimensions of national cultures to measure students' perceptions on individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity and long-term orientation. We collected data from 110 students during the Fall 2021 in Ecuador at Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ. Before administering the online survey, it was translated into Spanish and was reviewed by several native Spanish speakers. The results provide insight into the prevalent differences between the fields of architecture and civil engineering. We discuss the possible factors driving these differences and explore the avenues academia could take to reduce barriers for cooperation.