Achievements | Strategic Plan

Strategic Plan

EPOKA ›

Faculty of Architecture and Engineering › Department of Architecture ›

Vision

Mission

Context

Sources

Achievements

Achievements from the last period (Since the establishment of EPOKA)

Since 2008 the applicant pool for the Department of Architecture has grown by over 50%, and the entering class has become stronger and more diverse. In 2014 we increased the target size of the freshman class from 30 to 60 students. There is an ever-present need to expose our students to contemporary issues and to prepare them for a complex and global environment. In comparison to other top-tier programs, EPOKA University is a leader in its adoption of new pedagogical tools and in its focus on "hands-on, minds on" learning.

One of the objectives of the Architecture Department is to contribute not only to its students’ achievements and academic research but also to the broader local society by organizing seminars, exhibitions, and competitions and issuing of certificates to the participants. The four International Conferences on Architecture and Urban Design (ICAUD ) were organized by the Department of Architecture of EPOKA University in 2012, 2014, 2019, and 2021 in Tirana, Albania. Annual International Design Competition for Final Year High School Students (IDCHSS) is organized since 2011. The Department organizes Open Forums by inviting famous architects and artists from Albania and abroad. Students of architecture regularly participate in international exchange programs and attend international architecture summer schools, participate in national and international professional competitions. Each year department organizes the studio site trips and excursions. N'Cep is the EPOKA architecture students club, which had organized a number of activities, such as installations, expositions, student actions and performances.

II. Priority Areas– Themes

It is crucial to keep and make stronger our tradition of teaching and learning while at the same time develop an attributions set of operations, goals and desired accomplishments. The department of Architecture is invested in design grounded in critical representation where students learn how to beautifully draw, built and creatively think our mission is to educate professional architects and to advance architectural knowledge and creative practice through design-centered teaching and research. Epoka University is an institution that highly values and supports successful students learning in and out of the classroom and studios. It is a well known university for offering high quality student instructions. The department is a community of learners with students at the core of how they think, act and feel. Student’s engagement and satisfaction with their learning experience is a significant priority and teaching system is one of the pillars of the University. Yet they call for further development/attention.

Specific goals for the Theme 1

Goal 1.1 To ensure the continuation of professional and academical training of members of Department of Architecture

Goal 1.2 Improve staff retention by giving the possibility for the academic staff members to organize their activities such as site visits, field trips, attendance of conferences and workshops, organization of installations and expositions, publication of research papers

Goal 1.3 To facilitate the integration of the new staff through the organization of introductory social activities and trainings

Goal 1.4 To improve the quality and to increase the quantity of research activities in the department by academic staff members

Measures in order to reach mentions goals under Theme 1.

Measure 1.1 To promote the exchange of experience in different well known architectural schools, to participate in interdisciplinary research opportunities, to support the activities of the academicians addressed to upgrade their scientific titles and to create Research Unit, for the academic staff as well for the students, where research projects can be developed.

Measure 1.2 Increase of participation in conferences, research projects and workshops through the allocation of the supportive funds and establishment of a scientific journal of Department

Measure 1.3To introduce the newcomers with the organization of the department’s workflow through invitation of the high quality students of the recent courses to participate in the selected classes as student assistants

Measure 1.4 To keep the Curriculum updated, to establish the collaboration between the school and architectural professionals, to establish a division within the department by research profiles such as Architectural Design, Building System, Landscape, urban Design and Interior Design and to provide a Research Unit or Laboratory for each division, to establish scientific architectural journal of the Department and a yearbook of the best architectural projects.