Interview

Industrial Design school, Undergraduate, Istanbul

I spoke to my friend Yaprak—who grew up and completed her undergraduate degree in Industrial Design in Istanbul, while getting her two masters degrees in Italy and the US.

In Turkey, she cited no diversity, while in Italy, there was diversity but it was not valued as an asset in an academic environment. People were grouped by background, for ease of working together.

In Turkey, there was a much more top-down hierarchy. It felt much more formal as an education, both in terms of the way students address professors and their unapproachability.

While there were some lectures, most of the design degree was studio based work. However, the studio based work wasn’t collaborative group work, but much more individualistic. Similarly, content and material was relayed from the professor in lecture format or socratic method, as opposed to group discussion.

In Turkey, there are similar expectations about going to undergrad—it being a ubiquitous degree that has lost most of its meaning. Today, graduate school is where the value is demonstrated. Many people who are able to do so go abroad to study, as coming back to Turkey with a foreign advanced degree is much more attractive to employers. That said, study abroad programs are not set up for students, so study abroad is not common.

In Turkey, there are not the same US systems and infrastructure to close the gap between education and industry—there is no career counseling, mentorship, networking, or internships publicized or set up in affiliation with the school. One might not feel prepared for work after undergrad, much like here, so some of the skills needed for employment as an Industrial Designer (like 3D and rendering) must be learned outside of school. Much of this drive—to learn relevant skills and network—has to come from within. This is partially because of the formal style of education, and the fact that curriculum can remain unchanged, delivered year over year, largely the same, rather than modifying with the times. This is partially because there are not feedback loops between student and teacher in terms of the quality of education.

Similarly, there aren’t great feedback systems in place in terms of student performance. Final output was highly prioritized, but measured as a single letter grade. Things like the thought and design process and ability to work through failures are not considered as part of the educational growth process.

The cost of undergraduate education in Turkey was free, at a state school, but the quality of education suffered as professors had to have outside jobs, which made them largely unavailable, especially after 3pm.

Things like apprenticeships and internships are probably available, but not visible, common paths to follow. Connections to industry in general are not cultivated as part of the institutional education.

For and undergraduate design degree, not a lot of reading or writing was required. This lack of rigor made it seem more vocational, than about crafting critical thought and making you a “fully formed person.” This might have to do with the subject of the degree, but a liberal arts-style core curriculum or foundational subject matter was not required.