Elaboration on strategies for quality improvement of architectural education to improve the professional competence of Iranian architecture graduates

Subject Areas : Life Space Journal

Ramin Rostami ¹ , Hassan Sajadzadeh ² , saied haghighi ³

1 - Department of Architecture, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran
2 - Associate Professor Of Urban Design in University of Hamadan Bu-Ali Sina University, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Hamadan, Iran
3 - Department of Architecture, Hamedan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran

Received: 2023-10-09 Accepted : 2024-06-21 Published : 2024-02-20

Keywords: Architectural education, professional competence, strategies, content analysis,

Abstract :

Abstract A major goal of the university education program in the architecture field is to prepare architecture graduates for professional activities and involvement in the market. Finding the accurate educational method in the architecture field to participate in the field of professional work will be regarded as the major success of the Iranian educational system. The universities and higher education institutions of the country are among the institutions that can nowadays significantly influence the growth and development of a country. The higher education system greatly affects the fate of society in the long run, therefore, higher education has a high contribution to the progress and development of society, and the university is the origin of this evolution. Thus, architectural education plays an essential role in responding to citizens' growing need for architects' services, because of which the growth of society can be expected in terms of architecture. A major mission of the university is to transfer and promote knowledge and technology and develop skills and abilities in people for employment and fulfilling the market needs, but unfortunately, no concord exists between education at universities and the market. Lack of the skills and abilities required by the market is one of the main factors in the graduates' failure to find jobs and employment. The importance of architecture education and its role in the professional qualification of architecture graduates and the current situation of architecture education in Iran clearly indicate a significant gap in our country to reach an acceptable position in this context. The current research focuses on the presence of a gap between architecture education and the profession, resulting in the graduates' feeling of inefficiency in the professional market. A basic challenge in the architecture field is the mismatch between architecture education and the recruitment and employment process of graduates in this field in the market. When an architecture graduate enters the field of professional work with the first work experience, it further discloses the lack of applied architecture education at the university for architecture graduates. Therefore, the question is raised what solutions can be determined and proposed to improve the architecture graduates' professional qualification in Iran, aiming at the improvement of the architecture education quality? The research question has led to goal-setting that the indicators should be determined and categorized to be used for the professional competence of architecture graduates in Iran. Accordingly, this study with a qualitative approach held interviews with 23 experts and faculty members of the Iranian top universities, some graduates of the mother universities, and architecture students. Data were analyzed with the content analysis technique, trying to identify the intended strategies. Based on the expressions of the interviews and the extracted codes and categories, 42 categories were categorized in the form of seven themes. These themes were also classified into the general form of research strategies to improve both the education quality and the professional competence of architecture graduates. The frequency of the categories extracted from the interviewees' views was analyzed and reviewed using MAXQDA2020 software to use the results of the research in long-term strategies. These include reforms in entering the architecture field, targeted classification of students, solutions to address educational deficiencies, reforming academic titles, major reforms in educational deficiencies, and improving background conditions and strategies related to architecture faculties. This study also seeks to investigate re-creating the role of architecture professors, improving technical and professional skills, creating additional education opportunities for architecture students, adapting and implementing education depending on highlighting the executive part of architecture and short-term solutions, including reform, the entry mechanism into architecture, and targeted classification of students. Challenging conditions of students, solutions related to facilitating architecture education, quality improvement of the educational architecture professors and special expectations from them, reducing the gap between university education, architecture implementation and empowerment, the implementation of communication strategies between education and the market, and reforms at higher levels for a higher education quality are the other goals. Paying attention to the mentioned issues at Iranian universities and educational institutions can improve the architecture education quality and thus facilitate entry into the architecture profession for graduates of this field.