Real estate and commercial property are important to the economy. Commercial property industry, a sector which not only makes up a major part of the UK economy itself, but also provides a platform for virtually all of the countryís other major industries. It is a sector which plays a crucial role by providing places in which people can work, shop and enjoy leisure activities. Larger than the banking, leisure, communications and transport sectors, commercial property is also a significant investment asset for the pensions industry and so contributes to the financing of our retirement. Commercial propertyís value in 2008 was over £500 billion, slightly below that of UK government bonds, and comparable to the countryís stock of plant, machinery and vehicles, making it an extremely important factor of production. Its value is about half that of UK equities. The value of the commercial property stock fell by around 24% in 2008, compared to the 33% decline in the value of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (IPF, 2009). The number of ëgeneral practiceí graduates from RICS accredited courses is significantly high. It has the second highest number of graduates and students starters by professional groups apart from Quantity Surveyors and Construction. In 2008, it accounted total 1787 graduates and 2293 student starters, while 892 and 1162 respectively are postgraduate students. The total ëgeneral practiceí graduate and student starters constitute 35% and 24% across the fourteen major RICS professional groups (RICS, 2009). Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) accredited postgraduate courses have become the major supplier for future surveyors in the UK now. The number of new students on this type of course was 5156 in 2008 as compared to 419 in 2000. The number of postgraduate students studying RICS accredited postgraduate degree courses as a percentage of the whole population of new students increased from 13% in 2000 to 55% in 2008. The number of the UK RICS accredited postgraduate courses is substantially more than the RICS accredited undergraduate courses since 2004. In 2009, there were 235 postgraduate courses as compared with only 127 undergraduate courses in the UK, while there were 335 postgraduate courses as compared to 214 undergraduate courses worldwide (RICS, 2009). The global recession has hit the world economy hard. The real estate market has also suffered and it has also affected the labour market for real estate professionals. Many real estate professionals have been made redundant or have taken on extra or different responsibilities in order to keep their employment. In these circumstances, it may be that only sufficiently skilled real estate staff still remain in full-time employment. In addition, as the number of graduates from the RICS accredited postgraduate conversion courses substantially increased in the last decade, meant that there are more graduates who enter the surveying profession through this route. There have been several research studies aimed at investigating industryís expectation of built environment graduates and essential reform of built environment courses across the world. Davies, Csete and Poon (1999) and Wong, Wong and Hui (2007) conducted research to investigate the employersí expectations of construction and surveying undergraduates in Hong Kong. Massyn, Mosime and Smallwood (2009) conducted research to investigate whether construction management graduates in South Africa have the competencies that the industry need. As with Davies et. al. (1999) and Wong et. al. (2007)'s research, it is also quantitative-natured research. The data was collected through a questionnaire survey which was sent out to contractors registered at Level 9 on the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) register in South Africa. Hoxley and Wilkinson conducted RICS Education Trust funded research investigating the impact of the 2001 education reform on building surveying. The targeted respondents for their research were course leaders for building surveying undergraduate courses in the UK. The responses were gathered through a questionnaire survey and a focus group meeting with the large national, mainly London-based, employers of building surveyors. Research in this topic has been conducted in various countries over the last two decades. The previous research mainly focused on studying the competencies requirements for graduates of undergraduate surveying courses. There is also lack of research studying competencies of surveying graduates in the UK. These has been one piece of research of in the UK with a building surveying focus, but, the skills, knowledge and competenciesí requirement of UK real estate graduates has not yet been investigated. This paper aims to fill the gap of previous research. This paper aims to examine the critical factors and essential elements for real estate courses in the UK.