The researcher had the opportunity to work in the industry before graduation from the industrial high school in 1990. At the time, the teachers in the department of engineering and construction offered not only courses of theoretical knowledge, but also demonstrated relevant skills in practical courses. As a result, graduates could immediately work with certified skill in the workplace and the industry. In 2006, during courses on architecture in the university attended by the researcher, students questions in the need of designating a building line for the foundation, the kind of condition for excavating a basement (air sheltering equipment), the calculation of building coverage rate and floor area ratio, the meaning of 4R denotation in the current status map, the size of column and beam for four-story building and the representation of staircase trim line, that these "stories" of life reflected a dilemma in the current education in engineering and construction. Perhaps, these university professors might direct the problem to call for the return of technological and vocational education. However, given the current serious shortage of academic qualification, it was instead more urgent to discuss how to cultivate students into talents of the industry before addressing these questions.
In addition, the majority of university professors in architecture department in Taiwan over the past 40 years were returned graduates from abroad who were directly employed in these schools and were detached from the industry. Moreover, the regulation further isolated these full-time teachers from industrial practice in the construction industry. Despite many issues in regard with teachers in architecture department, the employment of students should be the first consideration, as the industry did have certain level of anticipation in students competence. The issue of teachers ability to cultivate students competence would be the main subject of this research. In view of this, this study aimed to investigate the competence of teachers in the department of architecture of some domestic universities. The result of the study was expected to improve the quality of education in architecture and to enhance the overall competitiveness of the construction industry. This article first analyzed literatures in three perspectives, such as education of architecture, professional competence and research method, to establish theoretical basis and factors of this study. Subsequently, the factors from literature review were organized to design the Delphi experts questionnaire. After the questionnaire passed the validity and reliability test, the researcher would proceed with a survey for 12 experts in the construction industry and used the fuzzy theory after recovery of these questionnaires, in order to obtain a consensus on the required expertise of these professors in architecture. Lastly, the consensus via the fuzzy Delphi method was further used to design and prepare a Analytic Hierarchy Process of the experts questionnaire.
Analytic Hierarchy Process of questionnaires adopted purposive sampling approach to select 12 practicing architects with public construction projects from four directional regions (northern, central, southern and eastern) for survey to acquire their views on the required competence of university professors in architecture. In the first phase of the study, 45 indices of required professional skill for faculty members of architecture department would be acquired from literature review and analysis. The second phase involved the fuzzy Delphi method to confirm the test value of 6.38 and a threshold value of 6.45 by 14 experts in the industry to remove 17 competence indicators to result in 28 indices for test. During the third phase of the study, Analytic Hierarchy Process was performed by 12 experts in the industry to weigh and sequence the 28 competence indices from the second phase. The research results of consensus and weight given by industry experts in accordance with the fuzzy Delphi method and Analytic Hierarchy Process were as follows:
A. Result of fuzzy Delphi method:
1. In term of "personal knowledge", experts considered that a faculty member of architecture department must have at least 4 years of college education with a major in architecture. Meanwhile, teachers must highly respect architectural knowledge and skills as a noble profession and willingly engage in practical teaching.
2. For "professional knowledge", experts expected that teachers in architecture department should have the basic learning of architecture and regard it as a noble profession to willingly become familiar with construction practices and regulations, as well as engaging more in relevant discussions on theories and practices.
3. With regard to "practical construction skills", experts of the industry believed that faculty members in architecture department could use the architectural presentation technique in accordance with the regulation on intensity of land development to rationally restructure a building, where the current status map could illustrate the building and the surrounding landscapes within the building area in connection with the outside environment, so as to help students become familiarized with the internal working of the construction business.
4. For "other practical skills", experts presumed the faculty of architecture department to possess the ability to interpret and render large drawings.
5. In term of "personal attitude", experts believed that teachers of architecture department should have the concept of lifelong learning and were able to reflect on professional performance from time to time in order to improve and refine to create a noble personality for students to respect and follow as a role model.
6. Experts expected that teachers of architecture department should have positive "teaching attitude" to regain their belief in professionalism of their industry. They should provide appropriate textbooks to equip students with required knowledge and practical skills, as well as encouraging them in learning.
B. Result of Analytic Hierarchy Process:
1. The second-order of hierarchy
On the second level of analysis, the three aspects of "knowledge", "skills", and "attitude" were sequenced in respect to significance, based on weight of decision-making factor by the expert group, which were in order of skill (0.5945), knowledge (0.3180) and attitude (0.0875). Experts believed that becoming a teacher of architecture or being a current faculty member of architecture department would require exploration of self-understanding of architecture inside out as a profession. The individual must re-examine personal background and professional knowledge to see if in line with the need of the construction industry to improve the communitys long-term perception of architectural education.
2. The third-order of hierarchy
Based on weight in the third level of analysis, the order was “practical construction skills” (0.2798), “personal knowledge” (0.2061), “personal attitude” (0.1481), “professional knowledge” (0.1303), “teaching attitude” (0.1180) and “other practical skills” (0.1178). Experts suggested that teachers of architecture department could attempt to understand if their actual work in this profession was consistent with their inner thoughts, where they should proceed to in-depth discussion with the industry to bridge an interaction between theory and practice, in order to cultivate outstanding professional experts in the field.
3. The fourth-order of hierarchy
The first five indicators of competence at the fourth level were ordered as "possession of diploma in architecture" (0.0722), "correct philosophical concept" (0.0620), "basic architectural design capability" (0.0603), "professional ethics" (0.0575) and "understanding of architectural laws and regulations" (0.0569). Experts believed the necessity of proper training and education for teachers in architecture department to avoid deviation from the core of this profession. Therefore, it was recommended for teachers to become familiar with actual construction practice in the industry.
From analysis of results, experts of the industry believed that faculty members in architecture department could use the architectural presentation technique in accordance with regulations on the intensity of land development to rationally restructure a building in the current status or the cadastral map to illustrate the building and the surrounding landscapes within the building area in connection with the outside environment, so as to help students become familiarized with the basic knowledge and skills of the architectural profession. Finally, based on the research results of the comprehensive fuzzy Delphi method and the Analytic Hierarchy Process, in comparison with more than twenty years of practical experience and six years of assistant teaching to reflect on students expectation of learning skills and knowledge, the expected abilities, attitude and theories of knowledge were indeed the "core competence" and the "core attitude" of every teacher in architecture department of industrial high schools in the 1990s. Apart from architectural experts expectation of recovering the long-lost building expertise and skills in the industry, it was rather their crave to reclaim the noble and desirable architectural ethics.