Sustainable Curriculum to Face the Challenges of Housing Construction in Developing Countries

The inadequacy of research on housing is a gap in the housing delivery system especially in developing countries such as Nigeria (Agbola, 1998). The United Nations (1976) had commended the importance of carrying out research in the housing and building field. They emphasised research through the staging of pilot projects in developing countries. Thus, this study is oriented with the ultimate aim to produce a curriculum, which satisfies the housing requirements of a research oriented programme. This is to fill the gap, since the current curriculum for the under and post graduate degree of architecture in Nigeria Universities (Ladoke Akintola University of Technology ? LAUTECH, Ogbomoso and Federal University of Technology, Akure -FUTA) seem not to be sufficient towards the realisation. It examines architectural education and its inadequacy in preparing would-be architects to function effectively as members of inter-disciplinary teams of housing professionals in Nigeria. It asserts that the curriculum of architectural education in Nigeria requires certain restructuring to make it more socio-economically relevant to meet the country's pressing national needs in housing provision. Key concepts relating to architectural education, schools of architecture, and especially the curriculum for under and post graduate students of architecture in Nigeria are reviewed. Based on this, issues relating to the aim of the study are identified. The research questions include: What exactly constitutes the objects of ?housing? in the existing curriculum? Does (or can) the design studio and teaching have a ' comprehensive syllabus' for housing? With what theories, concepts, disciplinary paradigms or methods can ? housing? be studied? How can it be comprehensively incorporated into the existing curriculum? The study discovers that research on architectural education should engage not only in the traditional issues of how to teach design, how to instil creativity, or how to link with the community, but also to introduce challenging questions and projects. Thus, the reform of curriculum for schools of architecture in Nigeria to face the new challenges of housing construction in developing countries should be implemented based on: Improving the quality of researchers on housing in the graduate schools; Formulating housing scheme (s) as a core into every stage of the curriculum; Maintaining holistic education at the undergraduate level and formulating specialized subprogram (such as housing) at the Master's level; Forming an internationally comparable framework of a 7-year program by combining the undergraduate holistic education and specialized subprograms in graduate schools; Implementing accreditation requirements and giving an appropriate certification of progress/completion of programs by educational institutions.