🔒Architects eye shorter path to licensure

Q&A talks about national licensing requirements for architects with Michael J. Armstrong, CEO of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB).

Q: The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards has a new integrated path to licensure. What does it do and what will its impact be on the architectural profession?

A: The integrated path creates a framework for NCARB-accredited programs to position students toward compliance with all experience requirements and taking each division of the Architect Registration Exam (ARE) once before graduation.

It incentivizes a closer relationship between the academy and practice, and simultaneously enriches the classroom and workplace experiences. A segment of the aspiring architect community will achieve licensure sooner without sacrificing any of the necessary rigor. 

Q: One of the ideas behind the new path is a more structured experience for architectural students. How is this experience evolving from what are the current practices for students?

A: This new path emphasizes the value of concurrent pursuit of the three E's: education, experience and examination.

Given that experience credit can commence upon high school graduation and experience requirements can be fulfilled before completion of all ARE divisions, the integrated path goes one step further into fully overlapping all the steps into one concentrated model. Students will, in their last few years, alternate between time on campus and time working at a firm. 

Q: What were the concerns with a sequential approach to licensure? How does integration improve the quality of education? Or is it designed to shorten the time invested in becoming an architect?

A: The sequential approach to licensure is an outdated model, given how the eligibility requirements for experience and examination have changed.

There is already concurrent pursuit of licensure on either end of the spectrum: education and experience, and experience and examination. We believe real-time experience enhances the ability to perform in the classroom, and vice versa. Each perspective illuminates the other. 

The integrated path will not be attractive to all students or to all schools, but it does recognize that some aspiring architects desire a more concentrated experience.

A by-product of this initiative is that the path may take roughly six years, give or take, instead of the current average of just under 13 years.

Q: How does this new testing address veteran architect's concerns that new standards lessen real-world experience for architect students?

A: The integrated path students will have to complete all sections of the ARE and comply with all requirements of the experience program.

There are no shortcuts in the integrated path to complying with all current licensure requirements. The overhauled and streamlined experience program maintains the same core hour requirements in place for many years. It eliminates the elective hours, which were not based upon the same data justifying the core hours. 

Q: One of the goals of the program is to get new architects into the pipeline as older architects retire. What do the numbers look like? Are enough people entering the field to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the profession?

A: We have seen a slow and steady growth in the number of licensed architects over the past several years. We are not aware of any data that can accurately forecast future needs of the profession.

Our annual 'NCARB by the Numbers' publication, updated this past June and available in digital format at www.ncarb.org, provides data and analysis regarding the performance and demographics of aspiring architects.

The path is getting shorter, and the pool is diversifying. A shorter path will assure the pipeline remains strong. A more diverse pipeline will position the profession to engage with a diversifying group of future clients.