Architecture and Design: BE OPEN's New Ranking of Educational Programs for Europe

The Rankings research, conducted by BE OPEN, has already mapped 208 educational design programs in North America (Canada, Mexico and the US), 34 educational design programs in Africa (Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Ethiopia, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya and Liberia), 102 programs in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chili and Colombia) and 96 programs in Asia (India, China, Japan, Thailand and Singapore).

Yelena Baturina, international philanthropist and founder of BE OPEN said: "The landscape of European creative education is incredibly diverse and significant. The European art, design and architecture schools train more young creatives than any other region of the world. With our research we hope to produce the Ranking System that will provide the universal and objective picture to those who will greatly benefit from it - young people who aspire to professional careers in creative disciplines."

She explains that in each region the educational programs are arranged into groups according to specific sets of relevant criteria, such as 'the most frequently referenced educational programs', 'the most practice-oriented programs' and 'the most capitalized programs'. The comprehensive ranking takes a number of variables into account with statistics relating to the universities' educational and research activities complemented by the opinions of key reference groups: namely, employers, professors and graduates gathered by BE OPEN through interviews with key decision makers and industry leaders, including heads of design studios and architectural bureaus.

Significantly, unlike most of the research in the educational sphere, the system developed by BE OPEN evaluates not the schools and their material resources, but the value of educational programs they offer. BE OPEN reviews both the traditional curricula - such as Architectural Design, Interior Design and Product Engineering - and the relatively new and developing disciplines of Industrial, Multimedia and Interactive Design, Sound Design and Communicative Design.

The Ranking is part of BE OPEN's educational initiative Inside the Academy and was conceived for two main groups: applicants to academic programs in design and architecture around the world, and potential employers. The prestigious Ranking helps applicants choose where to study and influences employers looking for the future stars of architecture and design.