Education/training
Interior design will soon be a regulated professionBlueprint for successInterior decorating and interior design aren't the same, although they're frequently confused. Interior decorating is just that: decoration. Interior design, however, is much, much more than turning a dumpy basement into a spiffy home office or a bright play space for the kids. DAVID CHILTON |
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 [ 2006-10-25 ] |
Tommy Tran, a third-year student at the International Academy of Design & Technology, won a student award for this project he submitted to the ARIDO provincial competition.
Interior decorating and interior design aren't the same, although they're frequently confused. Interior decorating is just that: decoration. Interior design, however, is much, much more than turning a dumpy basement into a spiffy home office or a bright play space for the kids.
Joyce O'Keefe, director of the School of Interior Design at the International Academy of Design and Technology, says applicants come to her thinking that what they've seen on HGTV -- which airs hours of interior decorating shows -- is what they'll pursue at her career college.
"Most don't understand," O'Keefe says, pointing out that later this year in Ontario, interior design will become a regulated profession like nursing. "It's not just decorating. It's not just what you see."
That means, she says, her students have to learn not only design, but also all about building codes, ergonomics, the safety of materials and working with electrical and mechanical systems. After all, O'Keefe says, interior designers take responsibility for the inside of offices, ships, hospitals, planes, long-term care facilities and more, as well as private residences. "We affect public health and safety," she says.
The International Academy offers two programs in interior design, O'Keefe says, one two-year and one three-year, although course times can be shortened if students intensify their studies. The school offers four intakes a year and O'Keefe says between both programs there are 350 to 400 students enrolled.
Other schools in the GTA that offer interior design programs include Sheridan College and Humber College.Ryerson University also offers a four-year program that leads to a Bachelor of Interior Design degree. At Ryerson tuition fees are about $5,000 a year; at the International Academy, fees are $15,000 a year.
Annick Mitchell, chair of Ryerson's School of Interior Design, says the university has one intake a year, in September. But, as with other popular programs, interior design is competitive at Ryerson, Mitchell cautions, with about 1,000 applicants for the 84 spaces she has available.
The application process at Ryerson is "fairly elaborate," Mitchell says. As well as the sheer numbers involved, students also have to take a drawing and writing test, provide a portfolio and pass a personal interview. "We're really concerned that there's a good fit between us and the student because it's (the program) so intensive," Mitchell says.
Most of her students are female, she says, pegging the number at 85%, a figure not so different from the 80% female enrollment at the International Academy. Similarly, the applicant pool at both schools draws on the GTA, Ontario, the other provinces and such places as Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The bare minimum for admission into either school is a high school diploma, but O'Keefe says more and more students have degrees so the average age is about 25. At Ryerson, Mitchell says about half of her students come straight from high school and half have varied backgrounds, including a good number of career changers.
Irrespective of where students study, they all have to pass a qualifying exam to practise and call themselves interior designers. Mitchell says the magic number is seven -- either interior design graduates obtain a three-year qualification and then gather four years experience or vice versa, then they write the exam.
Following graduation, job prospects look very good for the newbies, although pay is something else. Both Mitchell and O'Keefe say their students can expect to earn about $15 an hour right out of school.
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QUICK FACTS
- The International Academy, Ryerson, Sheridan and Humber all offer interior design programs.
- The applicant pool covers not just the GTA but the rest of the country and overseas.
- Interior design will soon be a regulated profession like nursing.
- As well as design skills, students must also learn about building codes, health and safety, mechanical and electrical systems and so on.
- Job prospects for graduates are very good but pay for recent graduates is only average.
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