The overseas club

Why would a young architect from Finland with a job in Singapore want to join the RIBA? This latest recruit, according to Ian Pritchard, RIBA's head of membership and international affairs, is typical of a new kind of member. Although he might never have set foot in the UK, he is attracted by the benefit of being able to put the four-letter affix after his name.

This month a survey carried out by RIBA Journal confirms that the main reason that overseas architects join the RIBA is because of the institute's prestigious reputation. One respondent from the Cayman Islands says: 'On larger projects it gives an element of professionalism and confidence.' Another, from South Africa, says: 'The RIBA still commands a fair amount of credibility, respect and prestige, especially in developing countries.'

The second most commonly cited benefit of membership was from ex-pats, such as one in Belgium, who talked about 'maintaining contact with the original professional body of my home country'.

Such replies are as one might expect, but there are signs that the demise of the old world order, on which the RIBA's network has historically been based, is beginning to bite. Australia's preparations to leave the Commonwealth Association of Architects this month are widely interpreted to signal the CAA's demise. Although never a high-profile organisation, it played an important role in validating schools of architecture in commonwealth countries and providing an international network. RIBA president Marco Goldschmied believes that, like the CAA, the institute has 'rested on its laurels and relied on its connections for too long'.

‘The days when Britain preached the gospel and the colonies listened have gone,’

Marco Goldschmied

Goldschmied's vision, which continues the work of the former director general Alex Reid in setting up the RIBA's website, is for the institute to become an international information or knowledge hub, providing best practice guidance on area such as 'best value' and Egan. He acknowledges that overseas architects constitute an important part of the membership (roughly 20 per cent) and have an important role to play in bringing new ideas to the UK profession. Under Goldschmied's presidency, the RIBA for the first time set aside a budget specifically for recruiting overseas members. This policy, initiated in 1997, was a response to a reduction in overseas members to around 6,500, from 5,000 in the early 1990s. A computer analysis revealed the obvious, but rather sad fact that the membership was aging and dying off. Until recently, most overseas members were ex-pats who wanted to stay in touch. To attract some new blood, last year around £20,000 was spent on advertisements in magazines in Canada and Australia and letters to members of European institutes in Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany.

The campaign halted the downward trend. As another encouragement to overseas members, the by-laws of the constitution were changed to provide places on council for overseas members. Two are currently taken by Olufemi Majekodunmi from Nigeria and Peter McNamara from France, and there is a provision for the number of seats to rise to five should the overseas membership grow. Other moves, such as the creation of the RIBA's online services, are specifically geared towards attracting members from abroad.

Goldschmied is proud of what has been achieved under his presidency, but says much more can be done to promote the RIBA abroad: 'There are one million architects out there. We have a tiny proportion of them and we'd like to see that grow, in fact double, at least'. In a different political era such a gung-ho expansionist attitude might have been regarded with suspicion. But the emphasis now is on exchange of information, rather than foisting the RIBA's message onto the world ­ 'the days when Britain preached the gospel and the colonies listened have gone,' says Goldschmied.

‘My observation is that the RIBA has aggressive expansionist plans in international architecture course accreditation – selling a service to the world. I’m dead against that.’

Australian architect

RIBA presidential candidate Paul Hyett says he will continue the international work of Reid and Goldschmied, should he be elected, and believes that in a shrinking globe the RIBA could become a vehicle for a achieving a 'portable qualification'. Hyett, who boasts that he has travelled round the world four times in the last 12 months, believes that in 10 years' time there will be a complete interstate qualification for architects which he hopes will be determined by the RIBA's criteria. As chair of the Union of International Architects working group on education, Hyett is particularly keen to promote the RIBA as a validation board for schools of architecture around the world.

Despite his best intentions (aimed eventually at achieving reciprocity) such plans for world domination are not universally appreciated. An Australian architect working in education told RIBA Journal: 'My observation is that the RIBA has aggressive expansionist plans in international architecture course accreditation – selling a service to the world. I'm dead against that.'

Australia's official departure from the CAA this month will eventually bring about a further reorganisation of the international validation system for schools of architecture, from which the RIBA looks set to benefit.

CAA executive director Tony Godwin believes that such changes are inevitable as countries like Australia seek to break away, and reflect what is happening at a higher level. 'The Commonwealth itself is in the middle of a high-level review and you can tell how relevant it is by the fact that at its last meeting in Durban, Tony Blair flew in for just 10 minutes. That sort of thing filters down.'