Architects Registration in The United Kingdom - Qualification For Registration

Qualification For Registration

The standard of qualification is not equal for all persons applying to be included in the Register of Architects.

The Registrar is bound, under section 4 of the Architects Act, to register any person who applies for registration if that person has "such qualifications and has gained such practical experience as may be prescribed".

An alternative route to registration is to satisfy the Board that an equivalent standard of competence has been achieved. A matrix can be applied as follows:

The disparity arises from the European Directive on Mutual Recognition of Qualifications in Architecture 85/384/EC. (Go to Article 4 of the main text for the required duration of training. The original Directive has been updated.) It is clearly stated in that Directive that "the total length of education and training shall consist of a minimum of either four years of full-time studies at a university or comparable educational establishment or at least six years of study at a university or comparable educational establishment of which at least three must be full time".

As this is a minimum requirement there is nothing to stop a country applying higher standards to those obtaining qualifications and experience within its own jurisdiction. However it is widely held (and expressed in the report of Michael Highton to the RIBA Council) that any challenge to this disparity is likely to succeed on the grounds of irrationality. The report stated:

"In our view it is only a matter of time before a UK student, who has been denied registration on the grounds that he or she has not passed the Part 3 examination, yet who has been educated in the UK and achieved two years practical experience in the UK, successfully challenges such a decision on the basis that it is irrational to require a UK based student to possess a higher level of qualification and experience than is required of a non-UK based student or architect."

If the Architects Registration Board reduced the registration requirement to four years full-time study, there is no reason why the RIBA should lower its entry standard.