Educational curriculum recommendations within the framework of international accreditation criteria for interior architecture education programs in Turkey and TRNC

Interior architecture, as a discipline that started to become professional since the beginning of the 20th century, has a history of approximately 100 years in the world. It started as an interior decoration education in the 1920s. Later, the National Association for Decorative Arts and Industries in the USA developed interior architecture programs that cover "complex design processes from interior decoration, which mainly includes furniture and decorations, various behavioral theories and creation of new spaces". Interior architecture education has an history of approximately 90 years in the world. In Turkey and the TRNC, interior design education started in the 1880s. Turkish-style interior architecture education, which progressed in parallel with interior design education in the world until the beginning of the 2010s, started to evolve in a different direction as of 2011. The issue of quality in interior architecture education has become a very important issue, especially after the abolition of the special talent exam and the increase in the rate of opening of interior architecture departments in universities and the increase in quotas. The quality of interior design education in different parts of the world is proven by the accreditation of the department. Because no interior architecture program in Turkey or the TRNC has been accredited by an interior architecture accreditation institution, interior architecture programs in Turkey and the TRNC must be examined and interpreted in light of international accreditation criteria. The Bologna Process is the foundation for ideas like improving higher education quality, developing criteria and qualifications, and increasing transparency. Each country was expected to develop their own national higher education qualifications framework under the terms of the Bologna Process. Turkey developed its own qualifications framework, known as the Turkish Higher Education Qualifications Framework, in 2010, based on international qualifications frameworks. Since 2010 can be considered the beginning of a new era in terms of standardization and quality management in Turkey's higher education, this study only included the interior architecture programs in Turkey and the TRNC, which began accepting students in 2011. The standards established by CIDA, the international organization that accredits interior architecture programs, were used in this study. Under these conditions, 56 interior architecture programs within the scope of the thesis were evaluated using CIDA's 16 professional standards. CIDA's professional standards are divided into two parts. The first 3 standards were established for the 1st section, "Program Identity and Context", and the remaining 13 standards were established for the second section, "Knowledge Acquisition and Application" (curriculum). When examined in the context of the criteria in the first chapter, it was understood that the departments within the scope of the thesis could not meet the international standards, especially in terms of department identity (mission, vision, goals and graduate tracking), and learning environment and resources. In the second part, where the criteria related to the courses and course contents in the curriculum of the department are; It was observed that the curriculum of the majority of the departments within the scope of the thesis did not provide the qualifications, especially in the criteria of "products and materials" and "regulations and guidelines". When the departments are examined in the context of the criteria of "design process", "communication", "design elements and principles", "business practices and professionalism" and "construction", it is understood that the departments are in better condition than the other criteria, although they cannot meet the international standards in all their conditions. Finally, the CIDA-accredited departments were examined, along with detailed analyses of CIDA's professional standards, and an education curriculum that would improve the education quality of interior architecture programs in Turkey and the TRNC was presented with the bare minimum of conditions and in the broadest terms possible in order to avoid uniformity. Informal content such as interviews, workshops, and technical trips, as well as formal education, are recommended here.