Approved Thursday by the UCF Board of Trustees, the program will prepare students for a variety of careers, including professional architecture, construction management and industrial design. The median annual salary for design professionals is about $72,000, according to Workforce Florida.
Students will take two years of classes as Valencia students and two years as UCF students. They then can move on to obtain their master’s degree, potentially by staying in Orlando and enrolling in a University of Florida College of Design program based in UCF’s Center for Emerging Media in downtown Orlando.
The Valencia and UCF classes will be taught at the new University Center building shared by the two schools at Valencia’s West Campus. The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects has worked closely with Valencia, UCF and UF to develop the program.
For more information, visit www.architecture.ucf.edu.