U. of Michigan Tops Rankings of College Design Programs

DesignIntelligence, a trade magazine for the design industry that frequently has compelling and thoughtful articles about the profession, has put together its latest rankings of the best architecture and design schools in the United States. That list is sold to DI readers for nearly $40. We got a copy of the report, with the promise that we wouldn’t give away all of the juicy bits, but we can offer some morsels:

Among undergraduate architecture programs, Cornell University, Syracuse University, Rice University, the California Polytechnic State University at San Louis Obispo , and Virginia Tech are the top-scoring institutions, in that order. Among graduate programs, the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are tops, in that order.

Landscape-architecture programs are also rated, with Harvard, Louisiana State University, and Texas A&M University at the top of the graduate-schools list. And among graduate programs in interior design, the Pratt Institute, Cornell, and the Rhode Island School of Design are deemed best.

Michigan’s first-place ranking among graduate architecture programs might have been a surprise, given that the program was ranked 21st last year, ninth in 2009, eighth in 2008, and 16th in 2007. In an article announcing the special issue, James P. Cramer, the founding editor of DI, commented on the drastic change in the rankings, which are devised with input from architecture professionals who evaluate the schools and their recent graduates.

“Educators and practitioners have long held Michigan in high repute, but its ascendancy to the top spot this year will surprise many—as it did us,” he writes. “It is reported that there have been numerous progressive changes internally. The college is delivering both applied research opportunities and relevance to its students, and it is communicating its value.”

The rankings are broken down further to focus on top programs in special areas. The University of Oregon’s program is deemed best in sustainable design practices, for example.

The survey also rates design professionals’ satisfaction with design programs. That may come as a shock, but nearly half of the surveyed professionals said that students were coming out of colleges with an inadequate understanding of building, facility, and equipment life cycles.

Architecture deans were also surveyed for their perspectives on the future of design education. The most significant change in course offerings in the past five years, according to those deans, should surprise no one who reads this blog: More programs are emphasizing sustainable design. Interdisciplinary collaboration was also seen as a big change in education.

Mr. Cramer says the new rankings come at a time that is both exciting and frightening for the profession.

“The architecture and design professions are undergoing fundamental changes brought about by new technologies, globalization trends, stresses incited by economic shifts, and innovations in material form and design management,” he writes. Not only is the design field challenged by environmental crises, energy troubles, and other global problems, but the field itself is economically challenged: The job market in design has been dreadful since the crippling recession, when many building programs stopped.

“It is timely for architecture and design schools to have bigger ambitions,” Mr. Cramer writes. “New city design, robotics, advanced health care, sustainable building design, green transportation, renewable energy, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, next generation ventures—all these zones of innovation will need architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and product designers to bring design entrepreneurship and positive change to this time of opportunity.”