Nigerian Architectural Education Training and Adoption of Gen-AI Epoch to Achieve

University of Johannesburg, South Africa oisazoje@gmail.com1* ebekoandy45@yahoo.com2, 3 Global application of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) across all human endeavours, including the education sector, has yielded unprecedented outcomes in data mining, information access, interactions between humans and machines, research outputs, and socioeconomic and environmental predictions. Despite the benefits of Gen-AI to educational systems and a review of Polytechnics and Universities’ architecture curricula in collaboration with the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), there is a lack of Gen-AI adoption in architectural pedagogy. This study examines the integration of Gen-AI into the Nigerian Architectural Education and Training (NAET) to achieve Agenda 2063. The researchers employed a qualitative phenomenological approach, using purposive and snowball sampling to recruit 65 participants from 2 polytechnics and universities. They include 36 architecture students, 24 lecturers involved in the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation exercises, and 5 ARCON officials. The study reached saturation with the 40th interviewee, and the analysis was organised into 2 themes. The findings revealed that Gen-AI is not incorporated into the NBTE and NUC-CCMAS curricula for teaching architecture students. Gen-AI enhances research outputs, generates innovative designs, images, and texts, and maximises students’ potential, entrenching lifelong skill acquisition. However, it can compromise research quality and induce laziness among users. This study offers suggestions for ARCON, as a practice regulator, and for NBTE and NUC, as education regulators, on integrating Gen-AI into NAET curricula and advancing Agenda 2063. Students’ Awareness and Use of Digital Technologies: Accelerating Progress in Digital Preparedness among