Goa College of Architecture was founded in the year 1982. It is the only Institute in Goa State offering a Bachelor of Architecture Degree (B. Arch) Course in architecture, The College is funded by the Government of Goa and is affiliated to Goa University. The present intake capacity is 60 students for B.Arch, 12 students for M.Arch in Urban Design and 12 students for M.Arch in Sustainable Habitat per year including the quota for other States.
The New Curriculum introduced in 2013 aims to address the timeless qualities of Architecture on one hand and the need on the other hand, to reinterpret these in the context of Goa at the beginning of the 21st Century. It is based on two major themes :
The first, is that Goa (and the Coastal Region) is considered to be a laboratory for learning for the students and to emphasise on developing architectural responses or designs which are appropriate in the changing times.
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The second, considering the scenario that the products out of GCA would be either engaged in developing designs based on a strong theoretical foundations or would involve in making of architecture, i.e., engage themselves in construction and the management of construction.
Hence, it was conceived that we should have three major vertical streams, namely, History-Humanities-Visual Arts, Construction-Technology-Management and the Design-Theory-Studio. The theoretical knowledge acquired in the first two streams mentioned above would be synthesised in the Studio horizontally at each of the year.
The most important salient features of this New Curriculum are:
- The policy to have three major vertical streams, namely, History-Humanities-Visual Arts, Construction-Technology-Management and the Design-Theory-Studio.
- A structure of the programme of 10 semesters, that is first 6 semesters of learning of architecture + Practical Training (in Semester VII) + 3 semesters dealing with professional courses with a choice for studios.
- Introducing more flexibility with new policy for Elective Courses by giving three different types of alternatvie.
- Introduction of an ‘Eleven-point Scale’ in the grading system and further refining it with the ‘Grade-Point Average’ or GPA system.
Apart from these, there are several important policy decisions, which add up to give the New Curriculum a greater flexibility.
