Education reform: Is this the end of Parts 1, 2 & 3?

There are important changes coming to architectural education. They will affect the whole profession – both students and practitioners, and those who teach and mentor them.

How students are taught – the balance of specific knowledge to skills, the support young would-be architects will need in practice and the requirements for continuing to learn and keep up to date – are up for grabs over the next year or so. On the way, there are uncertainties to be debated about funding the cost of courses, whether new routes would affect student loans and fees and how courses are approved by the RIBA and the Architects Registration Board (ARB).

The RIBA launched an education white paper at the beginning of this year, and brought together educators, students, practitioners and the ARB for a discussion day at Portland Place in London. The ARB itself has launched the second in its round of consultations on the shape of architectural education with new proposals. And a consultation of ARB’s plans for continuing professional education has just closed.

In many ways it is surprising that change in architectural education has taken so long coming. The vexed question of how to become a registered architect and how long it takes has been a live debate for many years.