July 2014

PE REPORT
Architects Pursue New Path to Licensure

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards in May announced its endorsement of a new path to architectural licensure in which aspiring architects would become licensed upon graduation from an accredited degree program.

“NCARB is engaged in streamlining and simplifying the licensing process for aspiring architects, and we are actively reengineering all elements of the architectural licensing process—education, experience, and examination—to focus on facilitation of licensing,” says NCARB CEO Michael Armstrong. “This additional path to licensure is another concrete step to reimagining and reconfiguring each part of the process while upholding the rigorous standards needed to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare.”

The new path, if enacted into state laws, will allow architecture students to graduate with their license by integrating the internship and examination requirements for licensure into accredited degree programs. This concept is the result of research and development efforts by NCARB’s Licensure Task Force and other leaders from the architectural community.

The Licensure Task Force was formed in 2013, and is headed by NCARB’s Immediate Past President Ron Blitch. It includes former and current leaders of NCARB, the National Architectural Accrediting Board, the American Institute of Architects, the Association of Colleges and Schools of Architecture, and the American Institute of Architecture Students, as well as interns, recently licensed architects, program deans and instructors, and jurisdictional licensing board representatives.

The task force’s next mission is identifying schools interested in participating in the program. NCARB expects to issue schools requests for information later this year and to begin a request-for-proposal process in 2015.