Architecture Education is very diverse, which can open up a wide array of career paths for you. As compared to other professionals, Architects are more capable of fitting into places because of their skill sets and their characteristics as problem solvers. Architecture students go through a rigorous training process in various fields, which helps them analyze their true potential and calling.
Nobody ever becomes an Architect, just by receiving an Architecture Degree. Architects finally become architects when they come out in the professional field and start putting all their technical skills into making buildings, and loving the process irrespective of anything. I have been associated with Architecture for over nine years, and I have seen many architects. Through the five-year course, someone discovered their passion for photography while doing a photoshoot for a college assignment; someone explored creative arts after appreciating cultural event artwork. Someone else worked to brush up their management skills after group projects went well. This can only happen because architecture education is very sundry. But at the same time, the Architecture education system is not as flexible as it should be to enhance the diversity of professionals in our country.
Architectural education is responsible for generating opportunities that foster the students, which lead to a miracle.
Architecture is the science that affects human lives in the most primal way. Therefore, the education system needs to be more prompt to ensure that the professionals are well trained to cater to the growing demands of people and society. When we talk about the quality of architecture education, we mostly think about the essential art of designing buildings, all the while ignoring many other roles that relate to architecture and are not within the range of the prospectus. It is no surprise that the average graduates are oblivious to the many facets of architecture that they can pursue and specialize in.
Architecture is divided into many parts when it comes to actual construction work, and there are multiple roles to be fulfilled. Apart from building design, there should be professionals handling interior design, landscape design, lighting design, construction management, etc. These things are introduced to a student in an architecture college, but it’s still required to do a specialization or masters to practice them on site. Other than these, there are a hundred different career paths that a student can adopt after getting a degree in architecture, but not extensively taught. Throughout India, architecture colleges have a limited and condense prospectus. Students are not given much freedom of choice to follow the path they like. The entire education system is focussed on the result of building design. Other streams are often taught as one subject per semester and or maybe just as a module. A student has to follow a strict curriculum and cannot choose the topic they want to study. Because of this, the course catalog in architecture is minimal, and a lot of subject matter misses out.
Does this need to change for better productivity? If yes, what can we do to implement this change?
The process of architecture education in India needs a tweak to ensure better tutoring of the students. A simple method of optional subjects can help a great deal to combat monotony in the education system. Apart from mandatory subjects, students can be allowed to take additional topics of their own choice to improve the skill set to excel in their desired path. For example, the history of architecture can be divided into international history and Indian history; interior design can be separate from lighting design and furniture design, graphic design in architecture can be a different course within the prospectus. Giving the students a chance to create their curriculum can help shape multi-talented professionals with a better understanding of their artistic flair. In a rapidly growing demand for multi-disciplinary occupations within architecture, the practice and education need to expand quickly to match the requirements. Other than these, new subjects should be introduced into an outdated curriculum in Indian colleges. There are many different directions that an architecture degree can lead up to but is not included in the syllabus. With a leading influx of architecture harvest, careers like architecture journalism, photography, graphic designing, and interior styling are seeing a sudden rise in the demand. But the education system does not have the means to produce graduates in these fields. All these career paths go hand in hand with the architecture outline. Architects have a knack and capability to excel in these multiple fields if they are provided with the same correct edification.
At times like these, the only solution is collective action and change to benefit society. The architecture education system has been stagnant for many years, and there is an urgency for a change, keeping in mind the rapid change in the world we live in. The prospectus of Architecture needs to be more flexible in its approach, and new facilities need to be incorporated in its scope. This is how we must Rethink the future of architecture education.
