Correlating Needs of Interior Design Employers with Program Development in Interior Designr

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Abstract

Introduction In 1983 the College of Home Economics at the University of Saskatchewan conducted a survey of potential employers of interior design students. The survey included openand closed-ended questionnaire items designed to afford Saskatchewan employers the opportunity to assess both 1) the importance of courses that interior design students were required to complete and 2) the need for additional coursework. Further, employers were asked to respond to questions designed to ascertain 3) what additional employee charteristics they deemed important and 4) their interest in participation in a field placement program. The survey was motivated by several factors not the least of which was a concurrent College curriculum review. Interior design is an area of study within the Division of Family and Consumer Studies. Thus, the College was particularly interested in assessing how the interior design program could be strengthened in the context of a divisional social science curriculum. A survey of potential employers of interior design graduates was one method chosen to make this assessment. A second factor motivating the survey was the desire to inform potential employers about a new field placement program and further to identify those employers who had an interest in participating in the program. Again, the survey methodology lent itself to meeting these desires and was used.