Architectural Education in The United Kingdom - Perspective

Perspective

The section on History began as follows:

The oldest known system of examinations in history is that used by China for the selection of officers for the public service (c.1115 B.C.), and the periodic tests which they undergo after entry (c.2200). The abolition of this system was announced in 1906, and, as a partial substitute, it was decided to hold an annual examination in Peking of Chinese educated abroad.

The majority of examinations in western countries are derived from the university examinations of the middle ages. The first universities of Europe consisted of corporations of teachers and of students analogous to the trade gilds and merchant gilds of the time. In the trade gilds there were apprentices, companions and masters. No one was admitted to mastership until he had served his apprenticeship, nor, as a rule, until he had shown that he could accomplish a piece of work to the satisfaction of the gild.

The object of the universities was to teach; and to the three classes established by the gild correspond roughly to the scholar, the bachelor or pupil-teacher, and the master or doctor (two terms at first equivalent) who, having first served his apprenticeship and passed a definite technical test, had received permission to teach...

After a survey of the development of examination practice in the universities of western Europe up to the early 20c., the next section of professional examinations began with the remark "University examinations for degrees having ceased to be used as technical tests of teaching capacity, new examinations have been devised for this purpose". For examinations in Medicine, the article referred the reader to the article on Medical Education, and this section concluded with a single paragraph headed Other Professions, stating that a system of professional examinations carried on by other professional bodies, in some cases with legal sanction, was developed in England during the nineteenth century; and, in a list of subjects described as "the most important" mentioned "architecture (Royal Institute of British Architects )", along with: accountancy, actuarial work, music, pharmacy, plumbing, surveying, veterinary medicine, technical subjects, e.g. cotton-spinning, dyeing, motor manufacturing, commercial subjects, shorthand and engineering (civil, mechanical and electrical).