RIBA claims Arb proposals to reform accreditation rules risk ‘haemorrhaging talent’

RIBA has described a proposal by Arb to restrict which learning providers can award qualifications as “elitist and ill-judged”.

The institute’s latest attack on the regulator’s educational reforms has come in a response to an Arb consultation proposing a change to the wording of Accreditation Rule 4.2 from ‘qualification awarding powers’ to ‘degree awarding powers’.

This would require any learning provider applying for accreditation of a master’s level or equivalent qualification to have degree awarding powers, or a formal agreement with a body with such powers.  

It means that learning providers which do not hold degree awarding powers or a formal agreement with a body which has such powers would be immediately disqualified from Arb accreditation, according to RIBA.

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The proposals are part of Arb’s reforms of architectural education aiming to diversify the profession by increasing access to qualification.

A key plank of the reforms would be replacing part 1, part 2 and part 3 qualifications with a two-part approach to improve access to the profession, and basing this on a new set of competency outcomes putting emphasis on what an architect can do instead of what they are taught.

But while RIBA has supported the reforms in principle, it has been a long-standing critic of the regulator’s strategy for the changes.

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RIBA board chair Jack Pringle said the changes to accreditation rules could “seriously hamper the development of new pathways into architecture at a time when the need for more flexible routes to qualification have never been greater”.

“The change risks haemorrhaging talent and threatens the future diversity of our profession,” Pringle said.

He said RIBA supports Arb’s plan to move to an educational system based on outcomes rather than qualifications in a “robust and self-regulated way”.

But he added: “This elitist and ill-judged proposal is a barrier to learning providers that supply innovative and diverse routes to the required professional qualifications. 

“Indeed, such alternative routes are welcomed and nurtured in the accountancy and legal professions.”

RIBA currently provides its own architectural education through through the RIBA Part 3 and RIBA Studio programme. It said the terms of its agreement with Oxford Brookes University, which manages the RIBA Studio programme, would mean the proposed amendment to Accreditation Rule 4.2 would be satisfied.

Arb has been contacted for comment.