著：（美）李明翰（美）奈徳·克倫肖（美）布萊德·戴維斯（美）金姆·道格拉斯（美）羅伯特·休伊特（美）克里斯多佛·普理查德譯：楊陽(yáng)

有關(guān)近年美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林專(zhuān)業(yè)本科五年制變四年制的教改工作

著：（美）李明翰（美）奈徳·克倫肖（美）布萊德·戴維斯（美）金姆·道格拉斯（美）羅伯特·休伊特（美）克里斯多佛·普理查德譯：楊陽(yáng)

本文概述了5個(gè)美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林學(xué)位從5年改革為4年在專(zhuān)業(yè)課程安排、大學(xué)核心通識(shí)課程要求、實(shí)習(xí)要求等方面的情況。這場(chǎng)教育改革工作的最主要的原因多數(shù)來(lái)自大學(xué)內(nèi)部教務(wù)行政單位的要求。該要求源于大學(xué)所在州的命令，都要求一個(gè)本科學(xué)位必須在4年內(nèi)完成120個(gè)學(xué)分。其次，這場(chǎng)變革還要?dú)w根于2008—2009年的全球金融風(fēng)暴，其觸發(fā)了對(duì)高等教育在責(zé)任和效率方面提出更高的要求。雖然有些大學(xué)可以為繼續(xù)實(shí)施五年制本科課程尋求免責(zé)，但是目前的五年制學(xué)位自身也正面臨著很大的挑戰(zhàn)，尤其在招生方面。文章內(nèi)容還包含了美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林學(xué)科認(rèn)證委員會(huì)關(guān)于該教改的一些觀點(diǎn)。最后，筆者們就風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位應(yīng)該在多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間內(nèi)完成提出觀點(diǎn)。

風(fēng)景園林；風(fēng)景園林教育；學(xué)制；學(xué)科認(rèn)證；風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位

(美)李明翰/1968年生/男/博士/教授，博士生導(dǎo)師/美國(guó)德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)建筑學(xué)院風(fēng)景園林與城市規(guī)劃系副主任/2015—2016風(fēng)景園林教育委員會(huì)主席/美國(guó)注冊(cè)風(fēng)景園林師/美國(guó)注冊(cè)土木工程師

Authors:

Dr. Ming-Han LI is a professor and the associate head in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A＆amp;M University. He was President of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture from 2015-2016. Dr. LI is a Professional Engineer and licensed Landscape Architect in Texas, USA.

1 背景

近幾年，美國(guó)高校中的一些風(fēng)景園林本科項(xiàng)目將其本科文憑的完成時(shí)間從5年縮短至4年[1]。這些教改工作主要來(lái)自于學(xué)校內(nèi)部高層管理部門(mén)的壓力[2]。這種壓力又來(lái)自這些教改工作所在州的一項(xiàng)強(qiáng)制要求，即一個(gè)大學(xué)學(xué)位需要在4年內(nèi)完成120個(gè)學(xué)分。這場(chǎng)變革的觸發(fā)可歸根于2008—2009年的全球金融風(fēng)暴，引發(fā)對(duì)高等教育在責(zé)任和效率上的更高要求。加之五年制大學(xué)學(xué)位所需要的額外學(xué)費(fèi)，也遏制了家長(zhǎng)讓孩子選擇學(xué)習(xí)風(fēng)景園林專(zhuān)業(yè)。因此，經(jīng)濟(jì)低迷導(dǎo)致了招生數(shù)量的減少，一些大學(xué)招生數(shù)額尚未完全恢復(fù)。為了應(yīng)對(duì)該問(wèn)題，一些風(fēng)景園林聯(lián)合組織正共同協(xié)作，包括美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林師協(xié)會(huì)(American Society of Landscape Architects，簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)ASLA)、風(fēng)景園林教育委員會(huì)(Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture，簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)CELA)、風(fēng)景園林基金會(huì)(Landscape Architecture Foundation，簡(jiǎn)稱(chēng)LAF)，以期通過(guò)加強(qiáng)公眾對(duì)本專(zhuān)業(yè)的了解促進(jìn)招生。例如，在2014年，ASLA特為招生創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)名為“通往風(fēng)景園林之路(Your Path to Landscape Architecture)” 的新網(wǎng)站[3]。

根據(jù)風(fēng)景園林學(xué)科認(rèn)證委員會(huì)(Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board)的數(shù)據(jù)，2016年，美國(guó)總共有44個(gè)被認(rèn)證的本科專(zhuān)業(yè)學(xué)位，其中的25個(gè)屬于四年制學(xué)位，19個(gè)屬于五年制學(xué)位。在2013—2015年的過(guò)去3年中，有5個(gè)學(xué)位進(jìn)行了從五年制向四年制的轉(zhuǎn)變，其中的1個(gè)發(fā)生在2013年，2個(gè)在2014年，另外2個(gè)在2015年。沒(méi)有一個(gè)是從四年制向五年制轉(zhuǎn)變的。這場(chǎng)變革似乎還將繼續(xù)，正如風(fēng)景園林教育委員會(huì)2016年年會(huì)上一個(gè)相關(guān)小組討論的議題，該小組討論的題目為“4年還是5年？美國(guó)幾個(gè)風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位從五年制到四年制轉(zhuǎn)變的最新動(dòng)向討論(Four Years Or Five Years? Discussions on the Recent Movement of Several Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Programs from Five to Four Years in the United States)[2]”。

本文將概述5個(gè)美國(guó)高校的風(fēng)景園林學(xué)位在專(zhuān)業(yè)課程安排(必修和選修)、大學(xué)核心通識(shí)課程要求、實(shí)習(xí)要求、海外課程學(xué)習(xí)等方面的改革結(jié)果。這5所大學(xué)分別是德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)(Texas A＆amp;M University)、佐治亞大學(xué)(University of Georgia)、肯塔基大學(xué)(University of Kentucky)費(fèi)城大學(xué)(Philadelphia University)和克萊姆森大學(xué)(Clemson University)。文章主要介紹這些教改工作的共同點(diǎn)和區(qū)別，同時(shí)，筆者們還將就風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位應(yīng)該在多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間內(nèi)完成的問(wèn)題提出觀點(diǎn)。

(美)奈徳·克倫肖/男/教授/美國(guó)肯塔基大學(xué)風(fēng)景園林系主任

(USA)Ned CRANKSHAW is a professor and chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Kentucky.

(美)布萊德·戴維斯/男/ 副教授/美國(guó)佐治亞大學(xué)環(huán)境與設(shè)計(jì)學(xué)院風(fēng)景園林本科負(fù)責(zé)人

(USA)Brad E. DAVIS is an associate professor and BLA program coordinator of the College of Environment and Design at the University of Georgia.

(美)金姆·道格拉斯/女/ 副教授/美國(guó)費(fèi)城大學(xué)風(fēng)景園林本科主任

(USA)Kim DOUGLAS is an associate professor and landscape architecture program director at Philadelphia University.

2 近期四年制改革項(xiàng)目的概述

2.1 德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)

德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)的風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位在2015年從五年制向四年制轉(zhuǎn)變。這個(gè)變革主要源于：1)德州議會(huì)要求大學(xué)學(xué)位需在4年內(nèi)完成120個(gè)學(xué)分；2)大學(xué)內(nèi)部行政管理的要求。在變革之前，德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)的風(fēng)景園林本科是該校148個(gè)本科學(xué)位中僅有的五年制學(xué)位。該校的內(nèi)部行政管理部門(mén)最終要求風(fēng)景園林本科縮短學(xué)位完成時(shí)間(表1)。需指出的是該學(xué)位原來(lái)的8個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)類(lèi)課程在改革前后均保持不變。該變革使得新生在第一學(xué)期就開(kāi)始接觸設(shè)計(jì)的課程，其中最明顯的不同點(diǎn)在于學(xué)分從148減少至128，另一個(gè)主要區(qū)別在于選修課學(xué)分的減少(包括自由選修課和規(guī)定選修課)。

2.2 佐治亞大學(xué)

佐治亞大學(xué)的風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位也是在2015年開(kāi)始從五年制變成四年制，并且同德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)具有相似的原因：財(cái)政和議會(huì)的壓力。此外，佐治亞州提供的一個(gè)獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金計(jì)劃，僅資助最多127個(gè)學(xué)分，這些學(xué)分通常需在4年內(nèi)完成。該校的風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位教改同樣允許新生在第一學(xué)期開(kāi)始設(shè)計(jì)課程。為了實(shí)施這項(xiàng)變革，他們將大學(xué)核心通識(shí)課程分散到整個(gè)4年期間，而不是如之前的學(xué)程主要集中在第一年。其采取的另一個(gè)有效的策略是將9個(gè)學(xué)分的風(fēng)景園林專(zhuān)業(yè)課程變成大學(xué)核心通識(shí)課程的一部分。同德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)一樣，佐治亞保留了所有8個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)課程，但是減少了這些課程的學(xué)時(shí)學(xué)分以適應(yīng)新課程(表2)。雖然處于初始階段，佐治亞大學(xué)在教改實(shí)施后已經(jīng)取得了積極的成果，如增長(zhǎng)的招生率、更多的內(nèi)部調(diào)動(dòng)、更多的夏季課程需求、新的選修課程、較高的學(xué)生留在本系和較低的轉(zhuǎn)系率。

2.3 肯塔基大學(xué)

表1 德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)的變革概要Tab. 1 Summary of Texas A＆amp;M University's change

肯塔基大學(xué)的風(fēng)景園林本科項(xiàng)目在2014年進(jìn)行了自主式變革，而非來(lái)自本州和學(xué)校方面的壓力。項(xiàng)目管理部門(mén)作出此變革以減少學(xué)生的投入時(shí)間，降低學(xué)費(fèi)，和加強(qiáng)招生優(yōu)勢(shì)。其中推動(dòng)該變革的一個(gè)因素是該學(xué)校在2011年將大學(xué)核心通識(shí)課程的學(xué)分從45分減少為30分(表3)。兩個(gè)最主要的變化是，其設(shè)計(jì)課程從原來(lái)的8學(xué)分減至7學(xué)分；實(shí)習(xí)和海外課程學(xué)習(xí)成為了必修課程。盡管減少了設(shè)計(jì)課程學(xué)時(shí)，新生仍將在第一學(xué)年就開(kāi)始接觸風(fēng)景園林專(zhuān)業(yè)課程教授(第二學(xué)期)。 2.4 費(fèi)城大學(xué)

費(fèi)城大學(xué)是本文介紹的5個(gè)學(xué)校中唯一的私立院校，其風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位是在2013年轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)樗哪曛?。其變革主要?dú)w因于全球經(jīng)濟(jì)下滑和地區(qū)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。他們制定這項(xiàng)變革的同時(shí)，還提出了“4+1”的雙學(xué)位項(xiàng)目：一個(gè)是與地理設(shè)計(jì)；另一個(gè)是與施工管理。4+1雙學(xué)位項(xiàng)目意味著學(xué)生可以在5年內(nèi)取得風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位和碩士學(xué)位?；谄鋫涫軞g迎的碩士項(xiàng)目，費(fèi)城大學(xué)能夠與賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)和坦普爾大學(xué)，以及來(lái)自巴爾的摩和紐約的其他大學(xué)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，吸引該地區(qū)的生源(表4)。除了創(chuàng)建了4+1項(xiàng)目的重要轉(zhuǎn)變，他們還將設(shè)計(jì)課程的數(shù)目從10門(mén)課減少為8門(mén)課。

2.5 克萊姆森大學(xué)

同樣基于經(jīng)濟(jì)方面的原因，克萊姆森大學(xué)的風(fēng)景園林學(xué)位在2014年從五年制變?yōu)樗哪曛?表5)。除了畢業(yè)時(shí)間，其學(xué)位變革后的另一個(gè)主要差別在于選修學(xué)分的減少(自由選修課和規(guī)定選修課)。

2.6 5個(gè)學(xué)位的比較

表2 佐治亞大學(xué)的變革概要Tab. 2 Summary of University of Georgia's change

表3 肯塔基大學(xué)的變革概要Tab. 3 Summary of University of Kentucky's change

表4 費(fèi)城大學(xué)的變革概要Tab. 4 Summary of Philadelphia University's change

(美)羅伯特·休伊特/男/副教授/美國(guó)克萊姆斯大學(xué)規(guī)劃與風(fēng)景園林系

(USA)Robert R. HEWITT is an associate professor in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture at Clemson University.

(美)克里斯多佛·普理查德/男/美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林認(rèn)證委員會(huì)負(fù)責(zé)人

(USA)Kristopher PRITCHARD is the Accreditation ＆amp; Education Programs Manager of the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board.

譯者簡(jiǎn)介：

楊陽(yáng)/1987年生/女/湖南人/華南理工大學(xué)建筑學(xué)院、亞熱帶建筑科學(xué)國(guó)家重點(diǎn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室在讀博士研究生/美國(guó)德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)建筑學(xué)院聯(lián)合培養(yǎng)博士(廣州 510640)

近期從五年制變?yōu)樗哪曛频?個(gè)專(zhuān)業(yè)點(diǎn)變革的概況詳見(jiàn)表6。雖然所有這些專(zhuān)業(yè)點(diǎn)都要求在4年內(nèi)完成學(xué)位，但是各學(xué)位要求的課程總學(xué)分主要在120～137學(xué)分之間有所差異。這些學(xué)位變革之后的主要優(yōu)點(diǎn)和缺點(diǎn)如下文所列。

變革中的優(yōu)點(diǎn)和收益：1)縮短畢業(yè)時(shí)間；從而減少學(xué)生花費(fèi)；2)提早與新生接觸；3)增強(qiáng)同其他專(zhuān)業(yè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)生源的能力。

變革中的缺點(diǎn)和損失：1)每學(xué)期的課程負(fù)荷略有增加，但是不是每一所學(xué)校都如此；2)減少了選修課學(xué)分，但不是每一所學(xué)校都如此。

一般性結(jié)論歸納如下：1)5個(gè)專(zhuān)業(yè)點(diǎn)中的3個(gè)保留了設(shè)計(jì)課程數(shù)量不變，2個(gè)減少了設(shè)計(jì)課程的數(shù)量；2)5個(gè)專(zhuān)業(yè)點(diǎn)中的4個(gè)依然設(shè)置了暑期或整個(gè)學(xué)期的實(shí)習(xí)必修課程，只有費(fèi)城大學(xué)的暑期實(shí)習(xí)依舊維持選修。3)每個(gè)高校設(shè)置的大學(xué)核心通識(shí)課程均占總學(xué)分的30%左右。如果這些學(xué)位在政策上能夠?qū)⑵湔n程(專(zhuān)業(yè)課程)變成大學(xué)核心通識(shí)課程，那么四年制風(fēng)景園林本科課程的設(shè)置將更加容易實(shí)現(xiàn)。

表5 克萊姆森大學(xué)的變革概要Tab. 5 Summary of Clemson University's change

表6 5個(gè)教改項(xiàng)目的概要Tab. 6 Summary of transition by the five programs

3 討論

2008—2009 年的全球經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)觸發(fā)了美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林本科教育項(xiàng)目的畢業(yè)時(shí)間從5年縮減為4年。經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)之后帶來(lái)了全國(guó)范圍內(nèi)嚴(yán)峻的本科低招生率，從而引發(fā)了這場(chǎng)本科教育的變革運(yùn)動(dòng)。該運(yùn)動(dòng)的另一個(gè)目的則是為了滿(mǎn)足州內(nèi)的要求，使風(fēng)景園林教育變得更負(fù)擔(dān)得起，反過(guò)來(lái)亦可幫助風(fēng)景園林提升自身對(duì)其他專(zhuān)業(yè)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力。在實(shí)施這場(chǎng)變革的同時(shí)，2016年由美國(guó)風(fēng)景園林認(rèn)證委員會(huì)認(rèn)證的44個(gè)高校的專(zhuān)業(yè)點(diǎn)中仍有19個(gè)保持五年制。這場(chǎng)教改背后也伴隨著一些問(wèn)題。對(duì)大部分管理者而言，最直接的問(wèn)題是“縮短畢業(yè)時(shí)間是否會(huì)影響學(xué)位認(rèn)證”。風(fēng)景園林學(xué)科認(rèn)證委員會(huì)的回答是否定的。根據(jù)風(fēng)景園林學(xué)科認(rèn)證委員會(huì)發(fā)布的最新認(rèn)證標(biāo)準(zhǔn)[4]，風(fēng)景園林專(zhuān)業(yè)本科學(xué)位必須是不少于4年的學(xué)士學(xué)位。只要學(xué)時(shí)不少于4年，如此都可以申請(qǐng)獲得認(rèn)證。此外，影響學(xué)位認(rèn)證的另一個(gè)因素是，學(xué)生是否能夠在該大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)其他學(xué)科的課程。其他學(xué)科可以包括人文、藝術(shù)、技術(shù)、數(shù)學(xué)、自然科學(xué)、社會(huì)科學(xué)等。因此，盡管學(xué)位的完成時(shí)間從5年縮短為4年，學(xué)生還是應(yīng)該接觸其他通識(shí)性教育，不能局限于專(zhuān)業(yè)課程。

作為教育者，我們需要關(guān)注的重要問(wèn)題是，風(fēng)景園林的學(xué)生應(yīng)該學(xué)些什么？在大學(xué)里我們應(yīng)該傳授些什么？以及多少年才足以獲得該學(xué)位？由于前兩個(gè)問(wèn)題話題過(guò)大，已經(jīng)超出本文討論的范疇，筆者們?cè)诖司妥詈笠粋€(gè)問(wèn)題分享共同觀點(diǎn)：完成風(fēng)景園林學(xué)位需要多少年。筆者們以德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)為例作說(shuō)明。如前文所述，德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)風(fēng)景園林本科學(xué)位曾經(jīng)是該校148個(gè)本科中唯一的五年制學(xué)位。德州農(nóng)工大學(xué)屬于美國(guó)大型高校，擁有10個(gè)以上的學(xué)院數(shù)量，超過(guò)60 000的學(xué)生規(guī)模。該校148個(gè)本科學(xué)位基本上包含任何能想到的學(xué)科或?qū)I(yè)。如果培養(yǎng)一名風(fēng)景園林畢業(yè)生比其他專(zhuān)業(yè)需要多出1/5的時(shí)間，那么風(fēng)景園林學(xué)如何在殘酷的社會(huì)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中生存？為此，我們應(yīng)該明智地作出決定。

Translator:

Yang YANG, Ph.D. Candidate, South China University of Technology, State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Building Science China, Visiting Scholar in Texas A＆amp;M University, USA (Guangzhou 510640).

[1] Williams, K. Five fourths, four fifths： the pressure is on for five-year bachelor of landscape architecture programs to become four-year programs.[J]Landscape Architecture Magazine,2015,(9)：108-110.

[2] Li, M-H., Davis B., Crankshaw N., et al. Four years or fives? Discussions on the recent movement of several undergraduate landscape architecture programs from five to four years in the United States.[C]//Dilemma： Debate. CELA 2016, the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture annual meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, 2016：101.

[3] ASLA, 2016. Your Path to Landscape Architecture. American Society of Landscape Architects, Washington DC. https：//www.asla.org/yourpath. Accessed on December 28, 2016.

[4] LAAB, 2016. Accreditation Standards for First-Professional Programs in Landscape Architecture. Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board, Washington DC, 18.

(編輯/劉昱霏)

1 Background

Several landscape architecture undergraduate programs in the United States shortened the time to completing a bachelor’s degree from five to four years in recent years[1]. Most programs made this transition mainly because of the pressure from their higher administration in most universities[2]. Such pressure came from a mandate in most programs’ respective state, where a college degree shall be completed in four years at 120 credit hours. The trigger of such movement can be attributed to the 2008-2009 global economic downturn that resulted in the demand for greater accountability and efficiency on higher education. Additional tuition cost for a college degree that needs five years to complete further deters parents to send their children to pursue landscape architecture. As a result, decreased enrollment has occurred since the economic downturn and several programs have not fully recovered yet. To address this issue, allied landscape architecture organizations, including American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) and Landscape Architecture Foundation, have been collaborating to increase the awareness of the general public on the profession and help recruit students. For example, ASLA launched a new web page named “Your Path to Landscape Architecture” specifically for student recruitment in 2014[3].

According to the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB), there were 44 accredited undergraduate programs in the US in 2016. Among the 44 programs, 25 were four years while 19 were five years. Within the past three years from 2013 to 2015, five programs transitioned from five to four years, in which one happened in 2013, two in 2014 and another two in 2015, respectively. No program moved from four to five years. This trend may continue based on the discussion from the panel entitled “Four Years Or Five Years? Discussions on the Recent Movement of Several Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Programs from Five to Four Years in the United States” at the 2016 CELA Annual Conference2.

This paper provides an overview of five US landscape architecture programs’ transition results in terms of curriculum arrangement for the major (required and elective), university core curriculum requirement, internship requirement, study abroad option, etc. The five universities were Clemson University, Philadelphia University, Texas A＆amp;M University, University of Georgia and University of Kentucky. Differences and similarities of all programs were presented. The authors also share their view on how long should it be for completing an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture.

2 Overview of Recent Programs Transitioning to Four Years

2.1 Texas A＆amp;M University

Texas A＆amp;M University’s BLA program changed from five to four years in 2015. The move was primarily because of (1) Texas state legislature that requires college degrees to be completed in four years and at 120 credit hours, and (2) university administration’s demand. Prior to the change, the BLA program at Texas A＆amp;M University was the only five year degree program out of the university’s 148 undergraduate programs. The university’s higher administrationfinally pushed the BLA program administrators to reduce time to complete the degree.The before and after comparison is presented in Table 1. Note that all original eight design studio courses remain before and after the change. The change also enables freshman students to start the studio course in the first semester.The obvious difference is the reduction of credit hours from 148 to 128. Another major difference is the reduced credit hours for electives (open and directed ones).

2.2 University of Georgia

University of Georgia's BLA program also changed from five to four years in 2015 for the similar reason as Texas A＆amp;M University: financing and legislature pressure. In addition, the state of Georgia has a scholarship program that only funds up to 127 credit hours which are expected to be completed in four years under normal circumstances. The change allows their freshman students to start the studio course in the first semester as well. To make the change, they spread university core courses throughout the entire four years rather than primarily only the first year as before. Another effective strategy was that they applied 9 credit hours of landscape architecture courses to become part of their university core curriculum. Like Texas A＆amp;M University, Georgia kept all eight design studio courses but reduced their credit hours to fit the new curriculum. The before and after comparison is presented in Table 2. Although preliminary, University of Georgia has seen positive outcomes after the transition, including increasing enrollment, higher number of internal transfers, greater demand for summer courses, new electives, higher retention and lower attrition rate.

Tab. 1 Summary of Texas A＆amp;M University's change

Tab. 2 Summary of University of Georgia's change

Tab. 3 Summary of University of Kentucky's change

2.3 University of Kentucky

The BSLA program at the University of Kentucky was self-motivated to make the change in 2014. There was no pressure coming from the state or the university. The program administration made this change to reduce time commitment for the students, lower the tuition and enhance recruiting advantage. One factor that made this change easier was because the university lowered its university core curriculum from 45 credit hours to 30 in 2011. The before and after comparison is presented in Table 3. Two main changes are that its design studio courses were reduced from 8 to 7; and internship and study abroad became required. Despite the reduction of design studio course number, freshman students began to be in contact with the landscape architecture faculty in the first year (on the second semester).

2.4 Philadelphia University

Tab. 4 Summary of Philadelphia University's change

Tab.5 Summary of Clemson University's change

Tab. 6 Summary of transition by the five programs

PPhiladelphia University is the only private institution among the five programs included in this paper and its BLA program shifted to a fouryear one in 2013. The program made the transition primarily because of the global economic downturn and competition in the region. When they made the transition, they also created “4+1” dual-degree programs: one with geodesign; the other with construction management. The 4+1 dual-degree programs mean that students can earn both the BLA and the master’s degree in a total of five years. Because of the popular master’s programs, Philadelphia University has been able to attract students from the region that have competitors such as University of Pennsylvania and Temple University, plus others in Baltimore and New York. The before and after comparison is presented inTable 4. In addition to the major change by creating 4+1 programs, they reduced design studio courses from 10 to 8.

2.5 Clemson University

Clemson University's BLA program changed from five to four years in 2014 also for the reason of economy. The before and after comparison is presented in Table 5. In addition to the time to graduation, another major difference is the reduced credit hours for electives (open and directed ones).

2.6 Comparison of Five Programs

Summary of the five programs that changed from five to four years recently is presented in Table 6. Although all programs can be completed in four years, their required total credit hours vary from 120 to 137. Major advantages and disadvantages are listed below.

Advantages or gains from the transition: 1) Reduced time to graduation; therefore reduced cost to students; 2)Early engagement with the freshman students 3)Enhanced competitiveness against other majors in recruiting.

Disadvantages or losses from the transition:1) Slightly increased course load per semester but not a consistent outcome; 2)Reduced credit hours for electives but not a consistent outcome.

There are also general observations summarized below. 1)Three out of five programs are able to keep their design studio courses. 2)Four out of five programs still have required internship either during summer or long semester.3)Each university requires approximately 30%± of the total credit hours for university core curriculum. If a program can strategically make some of its program courses the university core, delivering a four-year BLA curriculum will become much easier.

3 Discussion

The 2008-2009 global economic crisis triggered some undergraduate landscape architecture programs in the US to reduce time to graduation from five to four years. Such movement resulted from severe nationwide low enrollment in undergraduate programs after the crisis. The intent was also to make landscape architecture education more affordable as many states mandate, which in turns makes landscape architecture more competitive against other majors. Despite the recent movement, 19 out of 44 LAAB accredited programs were still five years’ as of 2016. Several questions arise from this phenomenon. The immediate one for most administrators is “Will accreditation be affected if time to graduation is reduced?” The answer according to LAAB is No. In LAAB's (2016) latest accreditation standards4, an undergraduate first-professional landscape architecture program must be a baccalaureate program of at least four academic years' duration. As long as a program is at least four years in duration, it can achieve accreditation. Another factor that could affect accreditation is whether students are able to pursue coursework in other disciplines in accordance with institutional and program requirements. Other disciplines include humanities, arts, technologies, mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences, and so on. Therefore, even if a degree program’s duration is shortened from five to four years, students should continue to be exposed to other general education and cannot be confined within professional subjects.

An important question we as educators shall ask ourselves is what students should learn about landscape architecture? What should we deliver in college and how many years would be enough to earn the degree? As the first and second questions are too big to address and are beyond the scope of this paper, the authors chose to share their common view on the last question: how many years to complete a landscape architecture degree will be sufficient. The authors used Texas A＆amp;M University as an example. As aforementioned, the BLA program at Texas A＆amp;M University was the only five year degree program out of 148 undergraduate majors in the university. Note that Texas A＆amp;M University is one of the largest universities in the US, with a student population of more than 60,000 and more than ten colleges. One can probably find any possible majors or disciplines from those 148 choices at Texas A＆amp;M University. If producing a landscape architecture college graduate takes 20% more time than any other majors, how can landscape architecture exist in a society, especially one that is becoming piercingly competitive? We ought to make our decisions wisely.

Recent Transition of Several Landscape Architecture Undergraduate Programs from Five to Four Years in the United States

Authors： (USA)Ming-Han Li, (USA)Ned Crankshaw, (USA)Brad Davis, (USA)Kim Douglas, (USA)Robert Hewitt, (USA)Kristopher Pritchard Translator： YANG Yang

This paper provides an overview of five US landscape architecture programs’ transition from five to four years to graduation in terms of curriculum arrangement for the major, university core curriculum requirement, internship requirement, etc. This curriculum change was mainly due to the demand from the higher administration in most universities. Such demand came from a mandate in most programs’ respective state, that is, a college degree is supposed to be completed in four years at 120 credit hours. This movement can be attributed to the 2008-2009 global economic downturn that triggered the demand for greater accountability and efficiency on higher education. Although exemption can be sought to continue a five-year undergraduate curriculum, current five-year programs are facing greater challenges specifically on student recruitment. The paper also includes Accreditation Board’s perspectives regarding the transition. Lastly, the authors share their view on how long should it be for completing an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture.

landscape architecture; landscape architecture education; curriculum; accreditation; bachelor of landscape architecture

TU986

A

1673-1530(2017)03-0115-08

10.14085/j.fjyl.2017.03.0115.08

2016-12-16

修回日期：2017-01-23