Professionalism of Architectural Graduates: the Role of Final Design Course

The current Bachelor of Architecture curriculum has been taught for the past eight years. In this curriculum, the last course is called Final Design in which the students design a project in its entirety drawing on all their studies and demonstrating their capacity as professional architects. This paper reports the results of a survey undertaken amongst graduates of architecture of Yazd University on the impact of this course on their professional activity. The results indicate that this course plays its supposed role in developing students’ professional capacity, yet it would be more effective if during its presentation: the design process is supervised; the design problem is more carefully chosen in terms of size and scope; and efficient use is made of other professionals during project design and its assessment.