AHO WORKS STUDIES 2012-2013
Evaluations
and for AHO’s part also the design education,
is relatively unique in a European context. AHO
does not award a Bachelor degree at the con-
clusion of the first three years of basic training.
In the evaluation of the design programs the
committee clearly states that AHO should adopt
a Bachelor immediately, and let students from
inside and out compete for entrance to special-
izedMaster programs. The committee also con-
cludes that maintaining the wide range of study
programs offered in design demands more stu-
dents and larger resources. The committee be-
lieves that the fields of study, as things stand,
risk being too small, exposed and vulnerable.
Design at AHO must grow to be more robust.
The results of the evaluation of the architec-
ture program show that problems potentially
lie in its content and context rather than in the
structure. The Foundation level programneeds
better overall coordination and its curriculum
needs to be reexamined. The two final study
years appear to have a wide offer of high qual-
ity courses, but there is no guarantee that the
entire “menu” maintains a uniform standard.
The individual courses are either based on, or
related to a research unit. They are offered by
established research environments or by teach-
ers basing their course on their own practice.
The students are free to choose, and through
this choice they develop individual profession-
al profiles. The question the committee raises
is whether the students have the foundation to
make qualified choices, and whether AHO can
guarantee the quality of each individual edu-
cational program. In this regard, the criticism
again points towards giving the programs and
education as a whole more attention.
The conclusion of the evaluation report
succinctly states: “The model with the many
studios hold an immanent tendency towards
closing in on itself or around professional en-
vironments – holding the same access to ar-
chitecture - and this tendency seems to mani-
fest itself as limited cooperation and exchange
between the different studios, on the side of
teachers and students both.”The committee
ends with a recommendation to “shape up the
AHO model’s potential”.
The Institute of Design (IDE) uses “Shaping
futures” as a headline to describe its mission.
“An ambitious statement with obligations”
is the committee’s comment. The evaluation
recommends that “IDE should seek to work
towards increasing access to teaching resourc-
es and to formalizing its network in order to
exchange competencies. In this way IDE can
gain what might be understood as the critical
mass necessary to reach their strategic goals.
There seems to be a special need to increase
the number of students enrolled, both at the
first year and at the master level (fourth year).
The Institute needs to have a large enough stu-
dent body for its future specialization plans
and to contribute towards research”. AHO’s
main strategy to realize this revolves around
committing to collaboration with the Design
Department at the Oslo National Academy of
the Arts. In this manner the design environ-
ment will double its size and gain the possibil-
ity to aim deep and broad.
Does AHO need a new vision, or does it boil
down to establishing different visions and a
new set of strategies? Might a clarification of
the school’s educational profile instead involve
a comprehensive reworking of the academic
profiles of the three institutes (or faculties)
that are responsible for the programs?
AHO has hitherto had design and shaping as
a fundamental credo and part of its image and
identity. Our working methodology is taken
from the academy tradition with studio-based
education. Our ambition has been to offer edu-
cation at the highest international level, and to
run narrow, elite programs as opposed to mass
education. Research is narrowed to the fields
in which we can excel and be at the forefront.
Maybe this is what can be expected. This is
good enough - but we always want to do better.
Our aim is to continue striving towards pro-
fessionalism and excellence. Enough words; I
trust you will find works in this book that show
what we are capable of!