ENGINEERING MINOR IN ARCHITECTURE, A MODEL FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY SPECIALIZATION AND CONTEXTUAL LEARNING

At NTNU, the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Architecture and Design have created a learning environment promoting collaboration between architecture and civil engineering students over the past ten years. Between 2019 and 2021, a Minor in Architecture program for students following the Master's Degree Program in Civil and Environmental Engineering has been piloted, evaluated, and established. The Minor in Architecture program is firmly anchored at both faculties and has become a productive arena for innovative, interdisciplinary, and contextual learning. Within the Minor in Architecture program, students and teachers work closely together, and architects and engineers from acknowledged professional practice contribute with project presentations and guidance. At NTNU, all Master of Science programs include 30 ECTS credits of elective courses in fields outside the core curriculum. The formal structure of the Minor in Architecture is a 30 credits course package consisting of four 7.5 ECTS credits courses within or closely linked to the field architecture. The NTNU Minor in architecture is an arena for collaborative and contextual learning, not only for the architecture and engineering students but also, noticeably, for the academic staff. Considering the necessity of integrating societal aspects for a sustainable world in undergraduate education, we are confident that the NTNU Minor in Architecture is a structure with huge potential to be linked to a wide range of study programs at NTNU.