How should we judge architecture education?

Architecture education is different regarding teaching methods and evaluation systems from most disciplines taught at universities. Because it is difficult to fit into the same mold as other disciplines, it appears, especially to non-architects, as opaque and subjective. How should we judge the quality of architecture education? Should we use rankings that measure research articles published, graduation rates, employers opinions or salary statistics?

Aaron Betsky, architect, critic, and dean of the School of Architecture at Taliesin has put forth some of his views about architecture education in a recent article in Architect Magazine. I agree with Betsky when he says, "I do not think that the sole criterion for student work should be whether or not it can be constructed." This would be a poor measure of the potential of architecture and design.

The beauty of design education is the project-based method, continual evaluation followed by improvement, and a belief that there is no one right answer. Students of architecture and design are encouraged not to shy away from complexity, and know that completing one task is just the beginning of the next step in a rigorous process. 

Another point made by Betsky in the article (and also by Natasha Jens in a video on Design Thinking) is that architects and designers must always present visual evidence of their ideas. There must be something more than words or post-its to prove a concept. And this is one the greatest differentiating factors of design education.

 Evaluation takes place in the "design crit." Betsky wisely says:  "I also think architecture schools have developed one of the most transparent methods of evaluating work: the public critique. When this system is working well, the opinions and insights of various critics can be measured against each other as each of them is forced to not only point out the basis of the evaluation in the work but also to defend their interpretations against sometimes opposing viewpoints. ... I base my evaluations mainly on design, which is to say, on visual evidence: the student work I see... I judge those products according to my accumulated knowledge about both the intrinsic and the extrinsic (social, environmental, economic) value of a design ...

The value of student's design is not just the final product, but the unique educational path to get there.