Public opinions on intelligent construction programs in China – evidence from social media

Purpose With the digital transformation of the construction industry and the advancement of China’s Emerging Engineering Education initiatives, more than 200 Chinese universities have launched intelligent construction programs. However, a gap remains between talent cultivation and industry demands, and the lack of public opinions makes it challenging for educators to advance intelligent construction programs. This study aims to explore public opinions on intelligent construction programs and find out the key factors behind them. Design/methodology/approach This study used the bidirectional encoder representations from transformers-based natural language processing model to conduct topic clustering on social media posts and sentiment analysis on comments related to intelligent construction programs. Findings The topic clustering of posts revealed four main themes, including the intelligent construction industry, intelligent construction programs, intelligent construction technologies and intelligent construction scenarios. Sentiment analysis indicated that the prevailing public sentiment shifted from positive to negative in 2022. Further analysis identified three topics on online comments: employment and career, program curricula and intelligent construction technologies. While the majority of public attitudes toward intelligent construction technologies remained positive, significant dissatisfaction was expressed regarding program curricula and employment prospects. Based on these findings, several suggestions are proposed to help educators advance their programs for intelligent construction education. Originality/value This study provides public-perspective insights into intelligent construction and civil engineering education research, contributing to fostering future engineers capable of responding to the digital transformation of the construction industry.