A CASE FOR PROGRAMME SPECIALIZATION IN NIGERIAN SCHOOLS OF ARCHITECTURE

Architecture is without question the “mother of all arts” because it combines artistic and scientific elements in an unprecedented manner to produce a design. This arose from the specialized training of the architect which educates him/her on a vast range of subjects – concept development, product design, project management, product details and specifications, human, financial and resource management. This automatically makes the architect the most “educated man in the room” as a popular adage puts it, a “jack of all trades”.
Architecture is without question the “mother of all arts” because it combines artistic and scientific elements in an unprecedented manner to produce a design. In this light, the curriculum developed for training of future architects in schools of architecture in Nigeria encompasses all aspects of architectural training. Due to the broadness of the curriculum, it is observed that in-depth knowledge required for professional competence is most often not achieved. This is naturally so because it is cumbersome for one individual to handle all tasks; hence, the need for programme specialization. While architectural study in developed countries have embraced the need of specialization, the same cannot be said of their counterparts in the developing countries. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the prospects of introduction of programme specialization into the curriculum of Nigeria Schools of architecture at the postgraduate level. Data for this study will be collected through the use of questionnaires distributed to students in three selected schools of architecture in southwest Nigeria.