NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University was ranked No. 3 in the DesignIntelligence 2020 list of “The Top 10 Architecture Program Most Hired From!” in the “under 20 graduating class size” category. This marks a move from No. 7 in last year’s report.
The annual design industry survey asks hiring professionals two basic questions:
- "What schools do you most admire for a combination of faculty, programs, culture, and student preparation for the profession?”
- “From which schools have you hired the greatest number of (undergraduate or graduate) students in the last five years?”
The responses record the degree to which students can hit the ground running in new jobs following graduation, among other factors. The survey, according to DesignIntelligence, assesses how recent graduates perform according to 12 skill areas encompassing knowledge of how buildings come together; communication and decision-making abilities; and digital technology skills.
According to Norwich’s 2018 First Destination Survey, 97.2 percent of new graduates were entering the workforce or graduate school within nine months of graduation.
“Year after year, architects in the field say that Norwich graduates are well prepared for the profession because they have a working understanding of what an integrated design process requires,” Cara Armstrong, director of Norwich’s School of Architecture + Art, said.
Norwich University is the only northern New England university to offer integrated professionally accredited programs in Architecture, Business, Engineering, Construction, and Nursing. Norwich’s Design Build Collaborative, founded with a $200,000 grant from TD Charitable in 2018, calls on students to “act as well as conceive” and create solutions for local, regional, and global challenges. For over 20 years, Norwich students have been addressing Vermont community needs through the construction of full-scale projects. Building on the seven different affordable housing prototypes Norwich has developed since 2011, the Collaborative continues to design and prototype regionally informed, resilient housing and organize and coordinate related research and programs between the schools comprising the College of Professional Schools and partner with community organizations.
“It is this kind of interdisciplinary thinking, collaboration, and experiential learning that makes Norwich graduates valued employees,” Armstrong said. “Architecture programs become exponentially more effective when we can kick down walls between business, engineering, construction management, computer sciences, and other programs.
“This is part of what makes the Design Build Collaborative so exciting,” she added. “When an architecture graduate who has been formally exposed to other disciplines enters the job market, his or her value increases.”
* * *
Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu
Norwich University celebrates its bicentennial throughout 2019. In fulfillment of Norwich’s mission to train and educate today’s students to be tomorrow’s global leaders, Norwich launched the Forging the Future campaign in 2014. The five-year campaign, which is timed to culminate in 2019, is committed to creating the best possible learning environment through state-of-the-art academics and world-class facilities and is designed to enhance the university’s strong position as it steps into its third century of service to the nation. For information please visit: http://bicentennial.norwich.edu/
Media contact:
Daphne E. Larkin M’17
Director of Media Relations & Community Affairs
Office: 1 (802) 485-2886
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
