Abstract:

Higher education institutions review and develop the academic programs to ensure that the curriculums are up-to-date and have the potential to graduate competitive candidates for the labor market. This reviews and developments are mostly classified into types:
First, annual internal review by seeking feedback from courses’ instructors, students, assessments’ processes and program tracking and management’s systems.

Second, periodic review (every 4 or 5 years) by seeking feedback from the graduates, employers, and external examiners that in addition to the feedback are considered in the annual reviews.

Both types of curriculum reviews and developments shall consider the national and international standards of accreditation and professional bodies and the results of benchmarking the curriculum against similar best practice academic programs. In this context, the design oriented curriculums are particularly important, since the graduates of undergraduate academic programs such as urban and landscape design, architecture, interior design, industrial and product design take a significant responsibilities towards human everyday life, social relations, economic growth, saving the natural environments, which in return have direct impact on the overall development of communities.

The research aims to look into the curriculums of various design oriented undergraduate programs at several higher education institutes by classifying the taught courses (modules) under certain domains (subject areas) and measure the weight of each domain. Furthermore the research examines the sequence of courses within each domain and the interrelations among the domains and relevant courses across the academic progression within the curriculums.

The initial surveys and analysis demonstrate that a design oriented curriculums include the following domains:
- Design (as central domain)
- Visual Communications
- Theories and Histories
- Technology and Production
- Human and Social Factors
- Sustainability and Environmental Factors
- Professional Practice and Management
- Research
- Lateral Science (math, physics etc.)

The research will provide a comprehensive understanding of the weight of above mentioned domains within various design oriented curriculums and recommends the optimal balance of domains and courses along with the appropriate "semester on semester" and "year on year" progression. The depth and breadth of a design oriented programs that supported by the optimal balance and appropriate progression shall ensure that the graduates will be empowered with the required knowledge, skills and attributes to compete in the labor market, who are able to contribute to the development of their societies and are prepared to engage in further professional trainings and post graduate studies.

Keywords:

Curriculum Design, Design Oriented Curriculum, Domains, Courses, Academic Progression.