Workshop on Doctoral Education in Architecture

A Pilot Study on Doctoral Programmes in Architecture

Gulsun SaglamerFatma Erkok

Istanbul Technical University

28-29 November 2011, Istanbul Technical University

Content

• Setting the Scene– Facts– Needs– Expectations

• Doctoral Studies in Architecture– History– A Pilot Study– Future

• Questions

One thing many PhD students have in common is dissatisfaction

(Economist, 06.01.2011)

The disposable academicWhy doing a PhD is often a waste of time

Economist january 6th 2011• In most countries a PhD is a basic requirement for a career in academia.

It is an introduction to the world of independent research—a kind of intellectual masterpiece, created by an apprentice in close collaboration with a supervisor.

• The requirements to complete one vary enormously between countries, universities and even subjects.– Some students will first have to spend two years working on a

master’s degree or diploma. Some will receive a stipend; others will pay their own way.

– Some PhDs involve only research, some require classes and examinations and some require the student to teach undergraduates.

– A thesis can be dozens of pages in mathematics, or many hundreds in history. As a result, newly minted PhDs can be as young as their early 20s or world-weary forty-somethings.

One thing many PhD students have in common is dissatisfaction.

Working outside Academia “PhD courses are so specialised that university

careers offices struggle to assist graduates looking for jobs, and supervisors tend to have little interest in students who are leaving academia.”

One OECD study shows that five years after receiving their degrees,

more than 60% of PhDs in Slovakia and more than 45% in Belgium, the Czech

Republic, Germany and Spain were still on temporary contracts. Many were postdocs.

About one-third of Austria’s PhD graduates take jobs unrelated to their degrees.

In Germany 13% of all PhD graduates end up in lowly occupations.

In the Netherlands the proportion is 21%. PhD graduates do at least earn more than those with a bachelor’s degree.”

History of Doctoral Education in Architecture

Historically, Ph.D. programs have often evolved into well-defined areas of disciplinary interest, which usually is reflected in their program of studies and research agenda.

Architecture and design, however, have not academically evolved in the same manner or direction.

The profession of architecture takes place at the interface of

art-science-technology & social sciencesDoctoral education in architecture started late, in comparison to that in

pure science and engineering fields. According to Harris, Giard & Pijawka (2004),

“until recently, the principal area of focus of architecture and design had been the application of knowledge rather than its discovery, and this approach was very evident in the pedagogy of most doctoral programs.”

Doctoral Programmes in USAThe start of doctoral studies in architecture in the world is not clearly indicated in

literature. The history in US is documented, though such an outlook for Europe is missing. In 1925 the first graduate with a PhD in Architecture occured in Harvard University

The Ph.D. Program in Architecture in the University of Pennsylvania, which started in 1964, is the oldest in U.S.A. and is widely regarded as preeminent in the fields of theory, technology and representation (Moore, Templer, 1984).

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan was one of only four doctoral studies programs in architecture in the US when it was established in 1969 (website of college).

Texas A & M University and Cornell University are among the oldest doctoral programs in architecture which started in the late 1960s. Doctoral study in architecture in the US is a relatively new phenomenon. There has been a relatively late development and slow spread of doctoral programs in architecture and other design professions.

“ As of spring 2003, we counted 25 universities in the US that have doctoral programs in architecture. This is a small percentage (21%) of the 118 architectural schools accredited by the NAAB”

(Harris, Giard, Pijawka, 2004).

Doctoral Education in Europe

• Institutions such as, ETH Zurich (1921), TUDelft (1924), TU Berlin (1946), University of Cambridge (1949) and ITU (1960) were locations for early doctoral education. This reveals that Europe has again played a leading role in the inception of doctoral education in architecture.

• Ph.D. requirement for academic staff in the field of architecture is still not widely established throughout the world. Only recently is this requirement becoming prevalent among institutions. Differences in trends and applications are obvious among institutions in the USA and Europe.

• At ITU, research based degree studies were firstly used for academic promotion processes starting in the 1940s. As the touchstone of modern doctoral study in architecture, the first award was granted in 1960 (Altan Oke/Kemali Soylemezoglu)

A Pilot Study on Doctoral Education

The pilot study that we have carried out did not aim to evaluate the doctoral education in architecture in different schools

………..but rather to set the scene and establish a platform to discuss the common

problems, to exchange good practices to develop better solutions by examining and comparing the nature and structure of doctoral studies in architecture across Europe and America

In 2009, a questionaire was distributed to the deans of faculties or directors of doctoral programs in several distinguished institutions of architecture. The survey was sent to around 50 institutions in Europe and North America.

A Pilot Study on Doctoral Education

The survey asked directors (of graduate schools/programs of architecture) mainly informative questions about student size, program structure, administrative control, intentions for reform, requirements for promotion of academics etc.

24 institutions took part in our survey. This response rate provides us with a comparatively

comprehensive picture of the state of doctoral education in architecture programs within the prominent institutions.

Questions of the survey are as follows:

1. When did doctoral education in architecture start in your institution?2. Is the doctoral education structured in your institution? If so;

– How many credit hours are required for the doctoral education?– What is the minimum & maximum length of the study?– What is the average completion duration?

3. How many doctorates have been awarded until the present day?4. What is the distribution of the Ph.D. graduates by year?5. Have there been any recent reform acts in the doctoral education in your

institution? If so, when?6. Is Ph.D. a requirement for teaching staff (Assist. Prof, Assoc. Prof., Full

Prof.) in your institution?

Participating Universities (24)

University of California, Berkeley (USA)UCLA - University of California, (USA)Harvard University (USA)University of Illinois, Urbana-Champ. (USA)MIT (USA)Delft University of Technology (NL) Eindhoven University of Technology (NL

ETH Zurich (CH)Technische Universität Berlin (DE)Technische Universität Kaiserslautern (DE)Universität Karlsruhe (DE)Vrije Universiteit Brussel (BE)

The National Sch.of Arch. of Bordeaux (FR)Budapest University of Tech. and Economics (HU)Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR)Universita IUAV di Venezia (IT)University of Trento (IT)Bartlett, UCL (UK)Westminster University (UK)University of Cambridge (UK)University of Edinburgh (UK)University of Sydney (AUS)Université catholique de Louvain – UCL (BE)Istanbul Technical University (TR)

Fig. 6 Starting year of doctoral education

1921 1924

1925

1970

1972

1972

1982

1983 19

87 1993

1995 20

01

2004 2007

2009

1949

1946

1960

1910

1920

1930

1940

1950

1960

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

ETH Zuric

h

Delft U

nivers

ity of

Tec

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Harva

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Technis

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Eindh

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Aristot

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chool

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architecture schools

year The oldest is ETH Zurich (1921)

TUDelft (1924) Harvard University (1925)

TU Berlin (1946) The University of Cambridge

(1949)

The youngest institute is Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2009)

Istanbul Technical University (1960)

A Pilot StudyQ1

When has the doctoral education in architecture started in your institution?

A Pilot StudyQ2

Is the doctoral education structured in your institution?

Among 24 universities

17 universities stated “YES” 7 universities stated “NO” 2 universities did not make any statement

Bologna Process encouraged universities to restructure educational programmes across Europe

A Pilot StudyQ2/1

If “YES” thenHow many credit hour required for the doctoral degree?

Among 24 universities

10 universities require certain credit hours varying between 20-180(ECTS) (There is no clear definition of credit hours) 7 universities stated they have structured programmes but

they do not calculate credit hours 6 universities did not make any statement

A Pilot StudyQ2/2

What is the minimum and maximum lenght of study?What is the average completion duration?

Among 24 universitiesIn terms of minimum and maximum lenght of studyo 3 years of minimum o 6 years of maximum lenght of study is common in many universitiesAverage completion is varying between 3.4 to 6 years( for full time students)

Fig. 7 Total # of doctorates awarded 0 3 7 9

42 6

2 67 1

00 1

39 1

89

195

200

200 224

434

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

# a

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A Pilot StudyQ3The total number of 434 ITU Ph.D. graduates in architecture is followed in second place with 224 by TUDelft.

Fig. 8 Distribution of awards to years

1 2 2 2,7

3 3 3,9

4 4,6

5

20

8,7

5

12

0

5

10

15

20

25

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A Pilot StudyQ4

Distribution of Awards to Years

For the fourth question about the distribution of the Ph.D. graduates into years, a difference in the kind of information provided by the contributors was observed.

While some indicated the number of average yearly admissions (Ph.D. candidates), others indicated the yearly number of awards granted. From this information, we can highlight a few things.

For the average number of Ph.D. graduates in the last 5 years, Eindhoven University of Technology roughly has 10,

Delft University of Technology 13 and Aristotle University 5 graduates. ITU has on average 15 graduates yearly, while the yearly average

since the introduction of the program is to 8.7

A Pilot StudyQ5

Have there been any recent reforms in the doctoral education in your institution?

Among 24 universities13 universities stated that they have had or they are in a

reform process in terms ofo Content/Curriculum Designo Organisationo Fundingo Administration11 universities stated that there is no recent reforms in their

institutions

A Pilot StudyQ6Is PhD a requirement for teaching staff in your institution?(Assist.Prof, Assoc.Prof., Full Prof.)Among 24 universities12 universities replied “NO”. It is not a requirement but in

most cases it is prefered depending on the subject area.12 universities replied “YES”. It is a requirment but a small

number of universities stated that it is not a requirment for the teaching staff in art and design subject areas in order to attract the outstanding architects in practice to teach in their institutions.

Most of the Architectural schools that are in Technical Universities or Institues replied “YES”

What are the specifities of Architecture and Research in Architecture?

Architecture is engaged in complex problems which are;

o Nonlinearo Ill-definedo Multidimensionalo Multidisciplinar

And the processes to be used to solve architectural problems need to use

o Creativeo Innovative approaches

enhanced witho Heuristic methodso Science&Technology

Problems in Doctoral Studies on Architecture

o Designing is a way of living. Most of the young talented graduates prefere architectural practice instead of research.

o PhD candidates are having difficulties to narrow their research areas and focus on certain problems as they used to deal with very complex architectural design issues.

o Completion time of Ph.D studies in Architecture is long 5-8 yearso Drop out rates are higho The research problems that PhD candidates are involved in the field

of Architecture are mostly theoretical and their results have limited capacity to be used in architectural practice.

o Therefore there is a gap between architecture/architectural practice and architectural research . Consequently, most of the graduates of the doctoral Programmes work in academia.

o ……………..

What Future

As architecture exploits science and technology intensiveley there is a strong need in practice for new creative and innovative architects with critical thinking ability, equiped with transferrable skills.

The new architects should also have an access to new developments in science and technology and be able to adapt and use new technologies in their designs and construction processes.

The new architects have to be aware of historical, cultural and social and environmental issues and and be able to cope with these complex problems .

Industrial Doctoral programmes may be a solution to design new doctoral programmes which will make contribution to the improvement of architectural design and practice.

Questions

o Is there a strong need to restructure Doctoral Studies in Architecture?

o Do industry need a new type of high skilled architects to solve complex problems in design and construction?

o Do we really need more PhD holders in our universities and construction industry?

o Creativity and innovation are the basic requirements for architects inherently. What would be the best way to enhance their creativity and innovative abilities during their Doctoral Studies?

Thank You

References

The disposable academic, Why doing a PhD is often a waste of time , Economist, january 6th 2011

Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative, Innovation Union (6.10.2010) GREEN PAPER, From Challenges to Opportunities: Towards a Common

Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation funding, 9.2.2011 Harris, R., Giard J., Pijawka D., 2004, Interdisciplinary Doctoral Education in

Environmental Design: Assessment of Programs, Issues, Structure, and Vision,

Moore, G. T., Templer, J.A. (eds.), 1984, Doctoral Education for Architectural Research: Questions of Theory, methods and implementation. Washington, DC: Architectural Research Centers Consortium, p. 3-27.

• Saglamer,G., Erkok,F., 2011., Doctoral Studies in Architecture; Challenges and Opportunities. 4th EUA/CDE Annual Conference May 2011, Madrid