RIBA
The typical route to qualifying as an architect in the United Kingdom is a combination of academic studies at a university and practical experience. It involves training for five years at university and completing a minimum of two years practical experience before final qualification.
We were the first University in the UK to award an RIBA accredited degree and have had continuous accreditation since. Our first degree, the BA Hons in Architecture is a three year degree giving RIBA part 1 on completion. Our second degree is the Master of Architecture (MArch Hons) giving RIBA Part 2. We recommend that our MArch graduates take the part 3 qualification through the route offered by the Northwest RIBA, with which we have close links.
The RIBA website provides a number of useful resources:
ARB
The Architects Registration Board (ARB) is the independent statutory regulator of architects in the UK, and is also the UK's Competent Authority for Architects. In order to call yourself an 'architect' in the UK you must be registered with the ARB.
In order to register in the UK, you typically need to hold the following:
- An ARB prescribed UK qualification at Part 1; our BA is a prescribed Part 1 degree
- An ARB prescribed UK qualification at Part 2; our MArch is a prescribed part 2 degree
- An ARB prescribed UK qualification at Part 3, including 24 months practical training experience.
If you already hold a first degree which covers the same subjects as a UK Part 1 qualification but which is not prescribed by the ARB, you may be eligible for ARB’s Prescribed Examination, through which you can gain equivalence to the UK Part 1. If you successfully pass the Prescribed Examination at Part 1 level, you can use this for the purposes of UK Registration.
You can check whether any qualifications you may already hold are recognised by ARB and at which level, and you can find more information about the ARB’s Prescribed Examinations and its requirements for registration via the ARB’s website. The ARB will also be happy to provide guidance on how you can satisfy ARB’s requirements.
General Criteria
As an essential part of meeting our two professional bodies' requirements for the part 1 and part 2 qualifications our BA Architecture and Master of Architecture degrees must address the 11 General Criteria that both bodies share in common. We also aim to make sure that our students meet the graduate attributes that are set out by both ARB and RIBA.
The General Criteria are described in these documents below, which also give more information about the graduate attributes and professional criteria:
- ARB Criteria (Parts 1,2 and 3)
- RIBA General Criteria (plus Graduate attributes and Professional Criteria)
The way that we meet these criteria is to map the content of our taught modules to those criteria. The mapping of the criteria is set out in the document here:
The module specifications and program specifications for our prescribed degrees link to this common mapping document as an appendix.