Abstract
This paper presents a small pilot study on Bachelor of Design educations which initiates a larger research on some problems within design educations and consequences of changes and school reforms in Norway during the last decades. Design programs of study are popular and the number of schools which offer these programs in Norway has increased since the 1990s. However, the premises for what a design study program should include as well as criteria for getting entrance to higher design educations have changed. This is particularly the case with newly established design educations at several University Colleges. While some study programs are labeled design without actually being that, other design programs are watered down by subjects less relevant to design, to make the education more profitable. Such tendencies may obstruct the concentration on design subjects and the time it takes for students to develop their abilities to create sustainable and competitive design. Changing the premises of higher design educations from great emphasis on design subjects to superficial study programs with less emphasis on design may in the long term undermine the quality of design and the capability for Norway to compete internationally. Thus one may ask; do Bachelor of Design educations in Norway need a General Plan to ensure that design students achieve the skills and knowledge which is needed to become successful designers?
Keywords
Bachelor of Design, Design study programs, Design curriculum, General Plan for higher design educations
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.063
Citation
Hagen, M.I.(2013) Transformation and consequences: Do change and divergence in the premises of Bachelor of Design educations in Norway today reveal a need of a General Plan for design educations?, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.063
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Transformation and consequences: Do change and divergence in the premises of Bachelor of Design educations in Norway today reveal a need of a General Plan for design educations?
This paper presents a small pilot study on Bachelor of Design educations which initiates a larger research on some problems within design educations and consequences of changes and school reforms in Norway during the last decades. Design programs of study are popular and the number of schools which offer these programs in Norway has increased since the 1990s. However, the premises for what a design study program should include as well as criteria for getting entrance to higher design educations have changed. This is particularly the case with newly established design educations at several University Colleges. While some study programs are labeled design without actually being that, other design programs are watered down by subjects less relevant to design, to make the education more profitable. Such tendencies may obstruct the concentration on design subjects and the time it takes for students to develop their abilities to create sustainable and competitive design. Changing the premises of higher design educations from great emphasis on design subjects to superficial study programs with less emphasis on design may in the long term undermine the quality of design and the capability for Norway to compete internationally. Thus one may ask; do Bachelor of Design educations in Norway need a General Plan to ensure that design students achieve the skills and knowledge which is needed to become successful designers?