Abstract:

Even though the significance of multidisciplinary collaboration is realized by the industry, it has yet not been fully adopted and realized in the academic sector. Since university curricula play an important role on preparing future professionals for the industry and helping to change the industry practice to a more collaborative trend, understanding how multidisciplinary collaboration is being addressed in curricula is essential. This article investigates how multidisciplinary collaboration is being addressed in the current university level AEC education, and the level of its contribution towards the enhancement of collaborative, communicative and coordinative skills of students. The analyzed data is collected from multiple sources by using a variety of data collection methods in order to have a comprehensive understanding of the existing curriculum and its reflection on the students. Addis Ababa University (AAU) in Ethiopia, with the highest number of students in the country within the architecture and engineering faculties, is taken as a representative case study. A survey on the students, interviews with academicians, and a comprehensive curriculum review of the available AEC departments have been completed to evaluate such things like perceptions and actual practices of multidisciplinary collaboration. Convergence triangulation method is used to analyze and triangulate the data collected from the sources simultaneously. The data is used for an analysis to evaluate the potential of the current AEC curriculum towards achieving a multidisciplinary education system. Result of analysis points out to findings such as; modules, courses, and programs are available that help students acquire cross disciplinary and theoretical knowledge, however not enough practical multidisciplinary activities are available.

Keywords:

Multidisciplinary collaboration, Collaborative learning, Collaborative teaching, Curriculum evaluation, Architecture and engineering education.