Abstract:

In any academic institution, which offers a professional degree in architecture, the question of the relationship between the education provided and the skills required for successful practice, is obviously of paramount importance. Consequently, the design and the overall philosophy of the curriculum has attain a congruency between knowledge provided in the school and the role of the architects in society, where the justification of architecture as a profession will be in providing better environments for contemporary societies.
In recent years, the profession of architecture has changed, but the educational process, especially in Middle Eastern architectural education, has been slow to respond to this change. There appears that there is a growing dissatisfaction with the current situation in Middle Eastern education, since several educators and researcher voiced the thought that architectural education needs to be more responsible to the social demands of contemporary societies. Unfortunately, however, few attempts have been made in this realm.
Where consensus is lacking on the issue of what changes in Middle Eastern architectural education will best support the society’s needs and the future of the profession, this research proposes an intellectual framework within which architectural educators can envision the socio-culture demands placed in the profession by society and type of education that satisfies these demands.
This research is divided into several sections. The first is to conceptualize the problem of architectural education in the Middle East. The second is to develop an argument in response to these problems. Such argument is devoted to answer basic questions about what is architecture. What is architectural design? Relationship between architecture and culture? The third describes and analyzes an experience in designing a new curriculum for undergraduate university education in architecture (Misr International University).This curriculum would respond to the problems of the current architectural education, and the needs of the profession and society.

Keywords:

Architectural Education, Curriculum, Undergraduate, socio-culture.