Michigan Upsets Harvard in Annual Best Architecture Schools Ranking

Until this year, Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design held the top spot in the Master of Architecture program rankings.

For as long as the journal DesignIntelligence has evaluated the best architecture and design schools, Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design has taken the top spot in the Master of Architecture program rankings. With the publication of DesignIntelligence’s 12th annual edition of America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools, however, the University of Michigan claims No. 1 in the M.Arch category.

“The college is delivering both applied research opportunities and relevance to its students, and it is communicating its value,” said James P. Cramer of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Cramer is the publisher and founder of DesignIntelligence, the journal of the Design Futures Council.

This year’s story about undergraduate architecture program rankings is fascinating for a different reason in the 2011 architecture program rankings. It demonstrates the strength of continuity, with Cornell University’s Bachelor of Architecture program topping the rankings for the sixth time in the past eight years.

For over a decade, America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools from DesignIntelligence has presented the definitive best architecture schools rankings and best design schools rankings. Determined by practitioners who employ design professionals, the best schools rankings are an annual gauge of the state of architecture and design education in the United States.

In addition to best architecture schools, the report includes best interior design schools, best landscape architecture schools, and best industrial design schools as rated by practitioners who have experience hiring and supervising recent graduates.

Students, prospective students, school counselors, and hiring managers have relied on the DesignIntelligence school rankings for more than a decade. Inside the 2011 edition:

• Top 20 undergraduate and graduate architecture schools
• Top 10 undergraduate and graduate industrial design schools
• Top 10 undergraduate and graduate interior design schools
• Top 10 undergraduate and graduate landscape architecture schools
• Which schools are best preparing students in design, communication, and other specific skills
• The architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and industrial design programs most respected by academic deans
• More than 2,500 students grade their satisfaction with 35 architecture programs
• Pass rates for the Architect Registration Exam and Landscape Architect Registration Exam
• 25 most admired design educators

In addition, the report, which is part of the November/December 2010 issue of DesignIntelligence, includes:

• Historical review of top schools
• Directory of leading architecture and design programs
• Ranking of the design professions’ most pressing concerns
• And more

DesignIntelligence’s America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools 2011 is published by Greenway Communications, a division of Greenway Group. It is available in the bookstore.