Architecture lecturers defend design-led courses

3 July 2012 | By Mark Wilding

RIBA Appointments survey shows graduates lack practical skills
Leading lecturers have stressed the importance of design vision in architecture education after a new survey revealed that four in five employers believe graduates lack practical skills.
The survey, conducted by RIBA Appointments and Newcastle University, also found that 79% of employers and 82% of students felt that more time should be spent learning in practice.
Robert Mull, head of the London Met’s architecture department, said: “Education has a duty to supply students with the practical skills to be successful but also the requirement to teach bravery and insight about the future. It’s always a complex balance. We think it’s our obligation to do both equally.”
Mull added that employers have their own role to play in equipping graduates with the right skills. “We can always do better but equally there’s an obligation on everyone involved in practice to ensure practitioners and students are involved in lifelong learning,” he said. “Education doesn’t end the moment you graduate.”
Neil Spiller, head of the architecture school at Greenwich University, said it was a “danger” for schools to preference practical skills over design vision, but agreed that the practical aspects of many courses could be improved.
The survey also found discrepancies between employers and students in the skills they identified as key development needs.
Less than a third of employers believed bim was a key development need compared to 59% of students. Many employers felt students’ knowledge in this area was satisfactory whereas students believed they had only a basic knowledge of the subject.
Vinesh Pomal, a representative from the Architecture Students Network, said schools should place more emphasis on bim but be wary of overselling the technology.
“Schools should embrace the teaching of bim with a clear explanation of its merits and pitfalls at an earlier stage in their students’ education,” he said. “They should also ensure that the students are not letting bim determine their architecture and instead should be using it as a tool for demonstrating integrated design.
“With varying practice sizes, not all practices will be using bim so students need to demonstrate the other skills they posses.”
Spiller added: “We are teaching bim, it’s important and it’s crucial to a sustainable future for architecture. It will undoubtedly be replaced by something that’s more highfalutin but it’s important students learn how to use it.”