DUBIWAK GETACHEW BULTI

Major Advisor: Dr. Nada Mohamed (Ph. D) ABSTRACT CAD is very important for architecture students' performance, and it helps them do their design work in a shorter time with more accuracy. Also, CAD allows you to see any direction of architectural design rather than a traditional mechanism. However, whether CAD is incorporated into the curriculum and effectively used for CAD course classes or is only used infrequently for design work, the penetration of CAD in architecture education in Ethiopia is likely to be uneven. This research investigates CAD usage in architecture education at Wollega University by comparing it with some selected Ethiopian universities. The research focused on assessing the effectiveness and applicability of CAD in the curriculum on design creation and the bilateral potential of CAD at Wollega University. Also, assess students' and teachers’ attitudes towards using CAD and traditional mechanisms in architectural education at Wollega University. This study is based on the analysis and review of survey and secondary data. The survey of architecture students and teachers of architecture was carried out in February and April of 2021 for a select number of Ethiopian universities, including Wollega University. Students and teachers of architecture completed questionnaires covering their attitudes and relative preferences towards the selection of CAD software and its usage at each design stage. Moreover, a literature review was carried out to discuss the possible mechanisms, including traditional and CAD software tools, used in the process of design creation based on other countries' experience. The data obtained from the survey was analyzed by SPSS and Excel software. Results of survey studies have shown that most respondents prefer CAD for their work rather than traditional mechanisms, and they have found positive attitudes towards the integration of CAD into the curriculum. For the Wollega University student respondents, ArchiCAD and AutoCAD are the most preferable software packages, while for other universities, Autodesk Revit is the prominent software package for their design work. And less adaptation to the newer version is seen for both teachers’ and students’ respondents from Wollega University. The usage of CAD software differs in design stages, and the results also reveal differences between universities. The department of Architecture at Wollega University should work on the proficiency level and adaptation to newer versions of CAD software and good if student use their CAD skills without any restriction.