Evaluation of Graduate Outcomes in Architecture Accreditation Requirements from a Student Perspective

Architectural education encompasses a variety of methods, with the primary goal of maintaining and improving education quality. In this context, the concept of accreditation has emerged as a system that ensures the preservation of certain standards and keeping these standards up to date in higher education. In Türkiye, the Association for Accreditation of Architectural Education (MIAK-MAK) has established certain accreditation requirements for Architectural Bachelor's Programs in 2021. According to these requirements, the targeted graduate profile is defined under the title of "Education and Learning Characteristics" of the program. The subheading "Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies that Graduates Should Acquire" summarizes the knowledge and skill areas that students need to acquire through the courses included in the program's curriculum, which are categorized into five titles. This study aimed to statistically evaluate the importance of the areas created for the knowledge, skills, and competencies that the graduate should gain from the perspective of the active student. The study focuses on the students of the Department of Architecture at KTO Karatay University Faculty of Fine Arts and Design. In this context, a face-to-face survey was conducted with the students, and the survey results were evaluated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process method. By comparing each subheading with the others, a ranking system was created, and their importance levels were determined. The results of student evaluations indicated that especially issues related to life safety, structural systems, sustainability, and global architecture stood out prominently. Studies evaluating accreditation criteria from the student perspective are very limited in the literature. For this reason, as an important approach, this study points out the gap in the field for researchers working on accreditation. This research, which aims to provide a perspective from students, is expected to offer an alternative approach and provide a participatory view in educational research.