When students are discussing difficult courses in their universities, they talk about Sciences like Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics.
Architecture doesn't feature in such talks because students tend to believe it is not as difficult as many other science courses.
This course in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, ABU is one of the toughest. It is one of the departments that is plagued with the drought of first class graduates in the Faculty of Environmental Design in the University.
Interestingly, whenever dearth of the first-class graduate is the topic, Nigerian students usually drop the blame at the feet of their lecturers, with the belief that some of them are sadists who do not want their students to break or surpass their academic achievement.
While some undergraduates strictly believe in this narrative, this postgraduate student, Raji Adeleye Azeez has a different opinion about lack of distinction students in the Architecture department at Ahmadu Bello University.
Adeleye explains why the department hardly have distinction graduates
The postgraduate student who believes universities need not produce distinction students every time attributes Architecture undergraduates failure to finish with first-class to their poor start and lack of background knowledge in technical drawing.
The postgraduate student explained that most students in the department do not have the background knowledge in technical drawings but find themselves studying Architecture which is basically about designs.
He said, ''a lot of students came into the university saying I want to be an architect without having the background knowledge of technical drawing from secondary. Some of them do not even realize they have to be very good at drawing before they can qualify to become an architect''
He therefore questions how such students would graduate with a perfect grade when they spent their first year learning the basics of the discipline.
This may be one of the factors responsible for the lack of first class graduates problem in the University.
But this is his view and you might think he is wrong. In case have explanations for the reasons some departments don't have first-class graduates, drop it in the comment section.