Prescribed Exam
Our Prescribed Exam provides a route to registration as an architect in the UK for those who hold qualifications not prescribed by us.
In 2018, a pre-consultation exercise was undertaken to understand views on certain aspects of the current Examination procedures. It was recognised that recent and upcoming reviews into other areas of our work could impact the Examination procedures and so, for now, proposals for change have been focussed on basic operational and governance areas.
On 9 December 2019, the Board agreed to consult on the proposed changes so that interested parties have the opportunity to provide their views before any changes are committed to. The consultation will launch shortly, please check our consultation page in the next few weeks for updates.
General Rules
The Architects Act 1997 was recently revised to facilitate changes to the constitution of our Board. The revised Act came into effect on 7 January 2019 and in July, our Board agreed to make adjustments to its General Rules so they aligned with the requirements of the revised Act.
At its meeting on 9 December 2019, the Board discussed further amendments to the Rules to continue this alignment, including an adjustment that would allow the Board to appoint a temporary Chair should it need to do so and potential changes that might need to be made in the event the UK left the EU, either with or without a deal.
The Board agreed to hold a five week consultation on the latest proposed amendments to the General Rules and to take into account any representations received from the consultation at its meeting on 27 January 2020 before any changes are implemented. The consultation will launch shortly, please check our consultation page in the next few weeks for updates.
If you have any queries or would like to discuss any aspect of these consultations, please contact Emma Matthews our Head of Qualifications and Governance (emmam@arb.org.uk or 020 7580 5861).
Quality Assurance Agency for UK Higher Education (QAA)
The QAA safeguards standards and improves the quality of UK higher education (HE). Their main areas of work include reviewing HE, Access to HE, the UK Quality Code and providing advice and guidance.
Subject Benchmark Statements are written by specialists and this process is facilitated by the QAA. Statements are used as a reference for those designing, delivering and reviewing courses and articulates the learning outcomes associated with a course.
A new QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Architecture programmes is now out to consultation. The draft encourages higher education providers to consider other reference points, such as the requirements set out by ARB, in addition to the Statement.
The consultation document, a copy of the consultation questions and a link to the online consultation survey can be found on the QAA website here. The closing date for responses is Friday 31 January 2020.
