Teaching FIDIC Contract Administration Through Immersive Virtual Reality: An Immediate Learning and Retention Study

International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) contract administration is a core competency in construction management education, but its procedural and context-dependent nature makes it difficult to teach through clause-based classroom instruction alone. This study develops and evaluates an immersive virtual reality (VR) learning environment for procedural professional learning, using FIDIC Red Book contract administration as the case domain. With the VR intervention, students were tested in a scenario-based project administration setting with role-based Engineer–Contractor dialogue. This setting embedded clause guidance, multimedia explanation, and formative quiz interaction. A quasi-experimental 2 × 3 mixed design was adopted with 126 undergraduate civil engineering students divided equally into traditional instruction and VR-based instruction groups. Learning outcomes were measured using 10-point pre-test, immediate post-test, and four-week retention-test assessments. The results were analyzed using Mixed-Design Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and baseline-adjusted Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), showing statistically significant effects of instructional mode, F(1, 124) = 30.75, p < 0.001, and assessment time, F(1.83, 227.37) = 64.86, p < 0.001, while the interaction was not statistically significant, p = 0.056. After adjusting for pre-test performance, the VR group achieved higher immediate post-test performance, F(1, 123) = 22.40, p < 0.001, and a smaller but statistically significant four-week retention advantage, F(1, 123) = 4.31, p = 0.040. The findings indicate that immersive VR instruction was associated with stronger immediate procedural understanding of FIDIC contract administration. However, four-week retention may require structured reinforcement. The study provides evidence for using VR as a complementary, scenario-based tool in blended construction contract education.