International Routes to UK Registration for Architects

Overview

ARB is the professional regulator responsible for setting the standards for registration as an architect.

Registration exists to protect the public, so that anyone calling themselves an architect has the appropriate skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours. ARB must ensure that standards of competence are maintained however professionals join the UK Register.

We recognise, or ‘accredit’, UK qualifications that enable people to join the architects’ profession and we set international routes for those without UK qualifications. Having recently reformed how we regulate UK qualifications – which included updating the competencies that architects need to demonstrate – we want to overhaul our international routes to UK registration to align them with our new approach to UK education and training. Additionally, from 2027 ARB will no longer require UK-qualified architects to have a Level 6 (Level 9 in Scotland) accredited undergraduate degree in architecture. The eligibility requirements for the exam must be updated to reflect that approach.

We are also aware that the current route open to the majority of internationally qualified architects, the Prescribed Exam, is in urgent need of a complete overhaul. The assessment methodology used in the exam is outdated and complex, and candidates often report deep frustration with the assessment format and process.

ARB has also signed international agreements with counterparts in other countries, including, at present, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and Hong Kong. Eligible internationally registered professionals seeking to join the UK Register through one of these agreements must take the UK Adaptation Assessment, to demonstrate that they are familiar with the UK context and ready to practise in the UK. In overhauling the Prescribed Exam, there is also an opportunity for us to simplify the UK Adaptation Assessment.

We are therefore proposing changes that aim to align our international routes with our new approach to UK initial education and training, and to improve access to the UK Register by simplifying the examination process and removing unintended complexity and barriers.

Proposed changes

We are proposing the following changes to the registration requirements assessed through the Prescribed Exam, the eligibility requirements, and the administration and the assessment format of the exam.

The full consultation document setting out our proposals is available here.

Competence-based assessment

• • • Assessment would be based on ARB’s Academic and Practice Outcomes (in place of the outgoing Criteria).
    • It would assess equivalent competence and UK context-specific knowledge (instead of equivalent qualifications).

Single gateway

• • • There would be a single examination gateway to the Register (instead of requiring two exams to prove equivalence to Part 1 and/or Part 2, and in addition, requiring a Part 3 UK-accredited qualification).

Improved eligibility

• • • Simpler eligibility requirements would be based on qualifications that focus on architecture and meet ARB’s UK professional practical experience requirements (without reference to the number of years spent in education and training).

Accredited providers

• • • ARB would accredit assessment(s) offered by providers, including any potential adaptation requirements such as preparation courses (rather than running exams in-house).

Modern assessment format

• • • We would introduce an online gateway assessment of UK-specific knowledge and readiness to practise in UK context, which would be designed to also operate as the UK Adaptation Assessment.
    • We would invite providers to develop the online gateway test and the subsequent competence assessment exercise(s) for ARB to accredit. There might be a range of formats of the assessment exercises, to increase options for candidates.

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Why your views matter

We are inviting views and ideas from all and any interested individual and organisations to help us shape our approach before we consider implementing it.

Our overhaul of the assessments will be an iterative process. We will only be able to set out more detail once we understand whether stakeholders agree that our proposals are likely to improve our international routes.

We will consult on the proposals in this paper for three months. The consultation will close on Monday 6 January 2025, at which point all responses will be analysed and we will consider how to respond to feedback and improve our proposals. Our analysis and the Board’s decision will be published in 2025.