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RIBA Certificate in Architecture

At its meeting of 7 September 2020, the Board decided that the above qualification should continue to be prescribed until 31 March 2026* under Section 4(1)(a) of the Architects Act 1997 for the purposes of entry onto the United Kingdom Register of Architects.

Prescription is subject to the Standard Conditions set out in the Board’s Procedures, namely:

a. The Royal Institute of British Architects’ RIBA Certificate in Architecture (four years, self-study; four years part-time) qualification should be prescribed for the period from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2026.*

b. Prescription of the qualification shall be by reference to the Programme Specification – submitted as part of the application and dated 18 December 2019 – for the RIBA Certificate in Architecture (four years, self-study; four years part-time)qualification. No change may be made to the title of any qualification, or material change to the content so defined within a programme specification (allowing for normal course development) without first obtaining the written permission of the Board.

c. Annually by 1 July** – commencing on 1 July 2021 – the institution will be required to provide the Board with information of the nature set out in Appendix 2 of its Procedures to enable the Board to see that:

i. All its Criteria and the relevant requirements set out in Article 46 (or Article 47) of the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive [2005/36/EC] have been attained by all students awarded the prescribed qualification;

ii. Adequate systems are in place to ensure that all the Board’s Criteria will be met by students for the period of prescription;

iii. The institution’s resources remain as set out in the application and are adequate; and

iv. All of the factors referred to in Sections 10.2 and 10.3 of the Procedures continue to be demonstrated, and any conditions of prescription continue to be met.

d. The institution will ensure that appropriate procedures will be maintained so that all students undertaking a prescribed qualification are fully informed of the extent of the application of that qualification to entitlement to registration as an architect in circumstances in which the student lacks a required antecedent qualification, e.g. Part 2 without Part 1.

e. Following each and every set of examinations, the institution shall be required to submit to the Board its pass lists of graduating cohorts who have received the prescribed award.

In addition to the Standard Conditions of prescription, the Board agreed that the following additional condition would be applicable to the qualification under Section 13.2 of the Board’s Procedures:

• The institution is required to submit explicit statements from the external examiners every year confirming whether they were satisfied or not that all graduating students of the qualification had met all the Criteria at Part 1 level.

 

The Board was confident that:

i. All students awarded the qualification since the qualification was prescribed or last renewed had met all the Criteria;

ii. The systems used by the institution to ensure that all students awarded the qualification have met all the Criteria are adequate, and will continue to ensure that the Criteria are met for the future period of prescription; and

iii. The institution’s future plans and commitment are such that the institution will maintain its ability to ensure that all students awarded the qualification have met all the Criteria.

The external examiners’ annual reports cover both Parts. The confirmation statements required by the additional condition will provide assurance of achievement of the Criteria at the relevant level by graduates of the separate qualifications within the RIBA Studio.

 

* At its meeting of 27 February 2023, the Board agreed to extend prescription until 31 December 2028.  At its meeting of 22 July 2024, the Accreditation Committee agreed that the prescription expiry date of the RIBA Certificate in Architecture should be updated to 31 December 2027 to reflect ARB’s published schedule for transition to accreditation.

** At its meeting of 30 October 2024, the Accreditation Committee agreed to change the annual monitoring submission date from 1 July to 14 June, effective from 30 October 2024.