
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) released the results of its sixth-annual survey about changes in budgets, applications, enrollment, and academic staffing at 62 architecture programs in the U.S. and Canada. The 2015–2016 Budget and Enrollment Survey shows that despite growth in applications and enrollment, an increasing number of programs are making budget cuts.
Relative to the survey's findings from the 2014–2015 academic year, the 2015–2016 version saw more programs reporting increases in applications and enrollments in B.Arch. and M.Arch. programs than did the prior year. Faculty hiring in architecture programs increased this academic year as well. Adding full-time faculty remains the most frequently reported change for schools participating in the ACSA survey.
“We continue to see stronger levels of interest in programs at the graduate level than the undergraduate level,” ACSA executive director Michael Monti, AIA, said in a press release. “But the picture for undergraduate education shows signs of improvement.”
A slightly higher percentage of programs this year reported decreases in their overall budgets (33 percent compared to 29 percent last year). Since the 2012–2013 survey, the number of schools reporting total budget decreases has crept up and those reporting budget increases has declined.