Abstract:

From the industry side of the dyad, the study examined School-Industry Collaborations among Nigerian architectural firms and schools of architecture. In School-Industry Collaborations, architecture firms are self-governed decision-making organizational entities with specific internal characteristics that might influence their partnership with architecture schools. The assessment of these factors underpins industry and pedagogical evaluations, benchmarking, and development policies in architectural education. There is a dearth of literature on contextual enterprise factors influencing the propensity of architectural firms to engage in School-Industry Collaborations. By investigating the factors within the organization that are associated with the tendency of architectural firms in Nigeria to engage in School-Industry Collaborations with schools of architecture, the present study filled this gap. Copies of previously validated questionnaire were administered to principals of architectural firms in Nigeria. A sample size of 212 firms was calculated from a sampling frame of 318 registered architectural firms. Copies of the questionnaire were administered to principals of randomly selected firms. Categorical regression analysis was carried out on eighty-two (82) retrieved copies of the questionnaire. A statistically significant influence is found between some internal organisational characteristics and the tendency of Lagos architectural firms to engage in SIC. SIC enhancing inferences were drawn from the study and areas of future studies proposed.

Keywords:

Architectural education, architectural firms, Collaboration, school, training.