ASOCSA is not the first attempt to form a body that addresses, inter alia, matters of construction education and training. In the days of the Building Industries Federation South Africa and the National Development Fund there were regular annual meetings of the Heads of Departments that offered construction-related programs. Recognizing the two-tiered higher education sector in South Africa, there were separate meetings for universities and the former Technikons. In the more recent past, the Chartered Institute of Building – Africa initially convened annual educators' forums that did not quite fulfill the same function as the previous forums.However, during 2005 the very first meeting of University Heads of Departments drawn from all higher education institutions in South Africa met for the very first time since the re-landscaping of the sector in the same venue to discuss matters affecting construction, and particularly construction education in the country. This meeting was repeated in 2006 where the need was expressed for the establishment of a formal forum / association of universities to engage in discussion / debate / collaboration / promotion of matters of mutual interest.