Effects of Curriculum on the Performance of Architecture Students in Building Structures in Southwestern Nigerian Public Universities (Published)
Students’ performance in Building structures courses have been observed to be generally low with their corresponding inadequate application of Structures knowledge in Architectural designs. There are many factors that may be responsible for this in which the curriculum used to teach the students is inclusive. This issue has not been adequately investigated. This study therefore analysed the effects of curriculum on the performance of Architecture students in Building structures in Southwestern Nigerian public Universities, with a view to improving on the performance of the students. The study employed descriptive survey. Five public universities approved by the National Universities Commission and Architects Registration Council of Nigeria namely: FUTA, LAUTECH, OAU, UNILAG and OOU were purposively sampled. The curricula of these selected universities were collected and reviewed with past examination questions and results on Building structures courses. The study revealed that curricula of all selected schools were in line with NUC and ARCON standards. The questions given to students’ during examinations were also standards and in line with the contents in the curricula in all selected universities. The study also revealed that the performance of the students in the courses was generally low across the selected universities. The study concluded that the curricula of schools selected are standard and good to train the students but should be re- evaluated to provide better alliance with the studio works (Architectural designs). The study recommended that topics not vital or relevant for students’ development in the contents should be removed to reduce overloading of works on students. There is need to reduce calculations or reduce calculations given to students’ during examinations to improve the performance of the students. Finally, periodical review and updating of curriculum are recommended to broaden the students’ knowledge in order to train high quality, talented students in Architecture and to meet the present and future trend development globally.
Keywords: Curriculum, Performance, Public Universities, architecture students, building structures