By Michael Monti, ACSA Executive Director

Expect cautious optimism over the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) endorsement of a path for students to earn an architectural license and a professional degree together. The decision last week sets in motion a process to get the first students underway. The idea is easy to get behind, but for these plans to succeed, schools and state licensing boards will need to collaborate. A change to a licensing regulation may be necessary, but alone it is not sufficient. Licensure upon graduation will instead require substantial commitments from schools and the profession.

From the schools it starts with a commitment to design a curriculum that adds professional competency—attested to by the license—as one of its outcomes. This drastic expansion in scope should not be underestimated. Schools and the profession will have to build and sustain a system to move students along a path that will take 10 years to bring to maturity.  

From the profession there must be a commitment to employ students regularly. This is not an infusion of free labor, it is more like a compact between firms and schools to have ongoing conversations about the experiences that students will get while working. 

The path to licensure is greatly streamlined when students satisfy educational and licensing requirements at the same time. Students seeking a license at graduation may need additional support.

Students must be confident that employment opportunities early in school will be in supply. During the contraction of the profession in 2008 and the years after, architecture programs faced real difficulties matching students and employers. Students looking for a job will have to be savvy about finding the right match. Firms taking students will have to adjust, as well. Interns need IDP experience across a number of work areas, and architecture schools typically define in advance the educational outcomes that work in a professional office will occasion. In other words, what happens in the office will have to be purposely educational.

A clear path to being an architect starting after high school is a potential game changer, but only with a lot of coordination, transparency, and frank assessments of the costs and benefits will it succeed. Start by looking where you live to see what the state requirements for registration are. What degree is required for registration? When can someone start taking the ARE? Are additional requirements in place?

If you’re lucky, you, too, could live in a state that wants your school to be responsible for both the education and the training of architects.