23rd June 2010: The Dire Condition of Architectural Education and Licensure

Joining us are two thoughtful and inquisitive architects - Matthew Arnold, a graduate of the Cooper Union - who has been researching the time it takes for recent architectural graduates to become fully credentialed, licensed architects; and Professor Roderick L Knox, also a graduate of Cooper Union, professor of architecture at Cooper Union.

Mr Arnold is preparing a white paper for presentation at the American Collegiate Schools of Architecture convention showing the data in graphic representation. An example of one such stunning analysis shows the dramatic increase in time required to pass the Architectural Registration Examination (ARE) - a standardized set of tests administered in the United States and Canada:

 As you can see, fewer than 10% of graduates complete their preparation within five years or less. The paradigm of our profession has always been that this period of preparation - now referred to as "internship" - should take three years. At a recent roundtable discussion held at the New York American Institute of Architects Center for Architecture, the NCARB's own project manager for Internship Development confided to the audience - without batting an eyelash, or any sense of irony - that his own period of internship "only" took ten years!


I - your host - was licensed in fewer than three years; but I am ambitious and the rules that applied during those times allowed summer internship served between semesters of college.

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Speak with you again soon!

Curtis B Wayne, Architect

magisterarch@gmail.com