Unit System of Education in Architecture...

Some years back the Architectural education system at University was transformed into a Unit based model. As a result the traditional 'End-of-the-year exam' was replaced with end of Semester exams. Since there are two Semesters per academic year, the students now have to sit for two exams per year. Often the total number of exam papers seems to be the same but sometimes more than that of the old systems. The biggest drawback in the unit system is that the students seem to be always working towards an exam thus missing the time and the energy to engage in anything but exams. This has completely robbed the chance of enjoying the university life, extra-curricular activity, engaging in any critical discourse or experimental study. This seems have brought the University to the level that of a normal secondary school in practice. The only difference seems to be that what is called a ‘Semester’ in the university system is referred as a ‘Term’ in school!

This looks almost like some big conspiracy to mess-up the quality of university education over cost. In the unit system the students can collect the necessary amount of ‘credits’ whenever they wish without missing on the year. In other words, a student can progress to the following year even if he has failed in the subject(s) in that particular year. As a result the student will be engaging in subsequent years’ academic work without attaining the necessary skills and the competence in the subject he failed in the previous year. Often students can be found studying in the final year, sitting for exams to pass first and second year subjects in order to complete the degree. Although it may be rather ‘easy’ for a final year student to ‘pass’ a First or Second Year theory subject , it must be noted that the student would have been lacking the same knowledge and skills in the previous years while progressing in to the final level. This looks a like a fundamental drawback in the system and is detrimental to the quality of university level education.