Architectural Education in The United Kingdom - Qualifying Examinations

Qualifying Examinations

The index of the eleventh edition offers users very little more about architectural education than a few words in an article on Examinations generally, which was attributed in part to Paul George Konody, Art Critic of The Observer and the Daily Mail, formerly Editor of The Artist and Journal of Home Culture, author of the Art of Walter Crane; Velázquez, Life and Work; etc. (so described at the page of Wikisource for Paul George Konody) and in part to Arthur Watson, Secretary in the Academic Department of the University of London. It began with the paragraph:

The term 'examination' (i.e., inspecting, weighing and testing; from Latin examen, the tongue of a balance) is used to denote a systematic test of knowledge, and of either special or general capacity or fitness, carried out under the authority of some public body.

There followed eight sections beginning with History and ending with a critical appraisal headed The Object and Efficiency of Examinations, and their Indirect Effects. The second section was on Professional Examinations, followed by others on School-leaving Examinations, mentioning the "accrediting" system in the United States started by the University of Michigan in 1871; Methods of Examination: Written, Oral, Thesis and Practical; Competitive Examinations; The Organization and Conduct of Examinations; and Marking, Classification and Errors of Detail.