THE IMPACT OF THE ARCHITECTURE DESIGN STUDIO COURSE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ARCHITECTURE STUDENT’S OF COVENANT UNIVERSITY DURING SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

Architecture education has evolved over the years to train students who aspire to build a career in architecture. In covenant University, the 2nd year class, undergraduate students of architecture begin a design project course that serves to equip students with the needed skills that are useful for the internship program and eventually the practice. According to the approved curriculum by the national universities council (NUC); students are to undergo an internship program during the summer break, which begins at the end of the session. During the program, daily activities are recorded in a log book. Based on the feedback, examiners can evaluate a students’ performance during the program. For this survey, 185 students were randomly selected from the 3rd year, 4th year class and the 1st year and 2nd year Masters students respectively. Also 5 supervisors form firms that had the most interns were interviewed. The results were used to evaluate the impact of the studio course on students’ level of efficiency during the Internship program. From the results, students received tasks that the studio course had prepared them to handle. However, some Students performed averagely and others claimed that they were under tasked by their supervisors. Hence, there is a need to identify the relative importance of the course and the program. These results will serve as data for the department of Architecture to be used to better prepare students for internship and eventually, the practice. keywords: internship, design studio, architecture, design project, academic performance