Curriculum design and development for interior design: An applied study on interior design program at Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Educational programs and curriculums are looked upon as one of the most important components of the process of education. The curriculum is the formal mechanism through which intended educational aims are to be achieved. It is to be continually updated and developed to achieve quality assurance and to satisfy the needs of the society as well as job opportunities. Most of the new educational institutes in the Arab world; and in Saudi Arabia in particular as it is the core of this research, plan their teaching programs in ideas springing out of foreign educational institutes programs. It is worthwhile to design the teaching programs and to develop them by analyzing foreign programs and comparing them to local ones, then it is better to select and apply what copes with the local identity of the university and job opportunities in KSA where the students will graduate and look for jobs. This should go side by side with technological development. This has been considered during the process of developing the interior design new curriculum in Prince Sultan University (PSU). The process targeted realizing the requirements of the Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia; as well as the requirements of National Commission for Academic Accreditation & Assessment (NCAAA), and to meet the standards of the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA). Also, preserving the Saudi culture and heritage by highlighting and integrating it in the new curriculum, to demonstrate its uniqueness among other cultures. Parallel to this process, the department is gradually being transferred from College for Women to College of Engineering, which is under construction.