The University-Workplace Continuum: Navigating Competence and Identity in Construction Education

Abstract. The relationship between university preparation and workplace competence in construction education remains a persistent concern amid rapid digital and professional transformation. This study investigates how South African Construction Management and Quantity Surveying graduates experience their preparation, transition, and early professional development. Seven semi-structured interviews were analysed through reflexive thematic analysis, generating six themes spanning theoretical foundations, digital preparedness, situated competence, transition shock, professional identity, and experiential learning. Findings show that theoretical preparation provides necessary scaffolding but does not translate directly into workplace readiness; digital competence, leadership, and stakeholder negotiation instead emerge through situated professional experience. All participants described transition shock, with experiential and mentored learning identified as the most effective mechanisms for moderating this discontinuity and accelerating professional confidence and identity formation. The study advances a university-workplace continuum model conceptualising graduate readiness as progressive, relational, and co-produced, offering an original, empirically derived contribution with direct implications for curriculum reform, industry collaboration, and professional formation in the South African built environment. Generative AI Literacy, Use and