The Way Forward: Reviewing an Interior Design Curriculum in the United Arab Emirates

According to Dubai’s Design and Fashion Council’s (DDFC) Design Outlook Report 2016, the MENA region will require approximately 30,000 design graduates by the year 2019. This number is nine times the existing amount of design graduations currently produced annually (DDFC 2016). Therefore, the design education industry is continually growing and becoming very competitive. In the UAE, there are currently 11 institutes, which deliver a bachelor’s degree in interior design. The aim of this paper is to bring forth recommendations to innovate and enhance an existing interior design program at a leading university in Dubai to set it apart from the competition. Utilizing a positivists (realism) approach to be able to determine the necessary reform required for the interior design program through the content analysis of a) relevant literature review, b) review and analysis of two program accreditation bodies, and c) reviewing two of the top five programs of interior design. An analysis of the findings was formed followed by a comparison to the existing interior design program at the selected university then resulted in three conclusions: 1. Improvement of the learning environment and the collaborative project work both within the institution and internationally. 2. Incorporate effective teaching methodology to enhance the student’s visualization skills through converging and assimilating teaching methodologies. 3. Additional specialization courses to increase the percentage of design course output in the curriculum while additionally incorporating sustainable design within interior design program.