The Elephant in the Room ACCREDITATION

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1 1 P a g e CACB Validation Conference September 2014 The Elephant in the Room ACCREDITATION Background This paper is informed by an observation of my own practice as it has evolved since 2007, my direct involvement with the RAIC since 2010 and more recently, a discussion with a number of esteemed architects, mostly alumni and faculty of the University of Manitoba. This was a discussion about architectural education and accreditation in Canada, internship, professional experience and, currency. Some independent research conducted since then suggests this broad subject is at a crossroad in many countries England, Germany, Spain for example, where the profession of architecture is concerned about the practical value of architectural education today. By extension, accreditation in one form or another is being challenged. Due to space limitations, this paper merely penetrates the surface of a very complex topic and as such, minimizes quoted sources, excludes a bibliography and formal structure. Rather, I offer this to simply launch a different conversation an informal process of exploration. The conditions that exist between the academy and its students, CACB and the regulators, CCUSA, internship and practice are reviewed initially and then questions are included to build the discourse. Accreditation_some of the Issues 1 The original purpose of accreditation in Canada was to align and therefore enable interrecognition between the CACB and NAAB to fulfil the spirit of the Canada US Free Trade agreement and to enable common recognition of the Master of Architecture as the accepted education credential for registration and licensure between the two countries. The USA has dozens of accredited and non-accredited, graduate and undergraduate programs, thus clarity was deemed essential. Canada at the time with only 10 Schools of Architecture had different needs and each school built or adapted their Master degree to meet the accreditation criteria. There was a solid business case for accreditation then and a need for a process to ensure its ongoing maintenance. Given the pace of change, worldwide demand for a broader recognition of credentials (not just between the US and Canada) and the practical aspects of deployment of the accreditation process in Canada today, should we be asking: Is the status quo still achieving its goals?

2 2 P a g e 2 By providing a consistent model for evaluation of curricula and student work products, the accreditation process exists to HELP the schools. It is neither intended to be punitive nor homogenize each institution. Accreditation serves the schools within the context of a broader university environment to protect and enhance governance and funding equity and promote standards meant to enrich a students educational experience. It is also NOT a competition between schools. Are we still being faithful to these tenets? 3 It takes too long for the institution to prepare for a team visit. It is also very costly during periods of significant education budget reductions across the country. This is simply time and money taken away from the students. One recent graduate from a Canadian University School of Architecture told me that she and others in her class basically had to give up the best part of an academic year in order to 1) assist in preparing for a Team Visit and 2) deal at the same time with disconnected faculty engaged in the preparation of the APR. This is an unfortunate unintended consequence of the entire process. Does this enhance a students educational experience? 4 A neutrally balanced team provides a level playing field for evaluation. a. In Canada, visiting teams are required to make every attempt at gender balance, regional and in the case of the Quebec Schools bilingual representation. b. Combined with the above, it is sadly a fact that after several accreditation cycles in Canada, there are fewer qualified visiting team candidates without some relationship, bias or conflict of interest with a given institution, given the small cohort of professionals and faculty with sufficient expertise to carry out a Team Visit. This militates against the accreditation process let alone its intended value. If you don t have a good team, can you net good results? 5 The education process itself takes too long, it is too costly and the debt to income ratio is unsustainable for many graduates. Employment is not assured with these credentials and the career path is also uncertain. This is because many curricula while meeting the Canadian Education Standard are nevertheless cited for not producing graduates with sufficient practical experience, technical building knowledge and saleable skills. It is NO coincidence that co-op schools in Canada are better subscribed to by practitioners they see these students daily in their offices, groom them as they acquire working skills, integrate them into their own culture, then hire them when they graduate because they already have an understanding of practice, especially their own practice. To emphasize the point, a 2013 CALA Employer Satisfaction Survey clearly signals work experience as a priority as the two co-op schools in Canada and the RAIC Syllabus are ranked near or at the top of the list. These programs require work experience as a pre-requisite to graduation. The renewed Syllabus dual degree option at the non-accredited RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University, a workplace based study model, requires a minimum of 9800 hours of valid workplace experience to complete the program. Albeit an alternate path to licensure that takes longer, its students are in high demand. Despite the high

3 3 P a g e calibre of programs to choose from across the country work experience and saleable skill sets clearly matter to the profession. If this is the case, why is the work experience requirement now primarily offloaded onto the IAP? Canada is not alone here. The RIBA Council just agreed to a motion to abandon their 3 Part system and to look into a major overhaul 1. The reasons are the same as what we experience in Canada. RIBA concluded that action on education is overdue to counteract the deadly combination of tuition fees stagnant architect salaries and low professional fees. Editor Christine Murray goes on to say The profession is gentrifying at an alarming rate, with the length of the degree and tuition fees further aggravating the gender and class divide, weakening the profession as a whole and its relevance and ability to relate to the modern construction industry. 6 We hold the schools to certain standards to maintain their accreditation yet the academy cannot keep up with the rapidly changing demands and the practical, technological complexities of professional practice. It is all but impossible to remain current with respect to the path many architects pursue today re: the green agenda, global environmental study and research, new technologies from an ever more sophisticated internet to BIM, and new models of collaboration, teamwork, virtual tasking and integrated design. The process of impacting change to a curriculum is simply too slow (and much as a result, is off loaded to internship.) What are the overall implications to the current standards? 7 Finally, the reality is that we are an aging profession, it is increasingly harder to recruit new candidates for registration and licensure. Fewer graduates are entering the profession despite increased enrollment in schools. In addition, the doors have to be opened internationally to enable skilled professionals to become licensed in Canada as well - just to satisfy existing basic needs. Is it therefore time to free up, if not obligate the Schools to revisit many fundamental aspects of their curriculum to better align themselves with the profession it feeds and even pursue other markets? Proposition The Elephant in the Room therefore, is the basic question about whether, given this rapid pace of change and transformation of our profession in recent years, the current process of accreditation itself be abandoned as we know it in Canada. Do we need it? Can we justify its cost? Are the performance criteria still valid? Can we achieve its goals by other means? Is a more streamlined, credential based certification process through CACB once again possible? Certification - where a candidates education credentials are certified as a pre-requisite for licensure existed prior to accreditation in Canada. (Many, if not the majority of our established professionals today own CACB Certification and did not graduate from an accredited program.) This system is still

4 4 P a g e successfully used for the BEFA program and graduates of the non-accredited RAIC Syllabus aka, the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University. Proposition_Questions If accreditation is abandoned, how can the regulators and CACB be assured that the schools continue to meet the baseline CES? One idea is to re-establish the critical importance of an Annual Report. Typically, after every accreditation visit, each school is expected to provide an annual update addressing the concerns identified in the Visiting Team Report and explaining ongoing changes / improvements to the curriculum. Uneven emphasis is placed on these reports historically, yet they could arguably be the most useful documents that keep CACB fully informed as to what is taking place in each of the Canadian Schools on an ongoing basis. The Annual Report reviewed by a CACB Education Committee that changes say, every three years would be cost effective for the Schools and CACB (especially if delivered on line) while enabling oversight and a thorough examination of school curricula and concerns on a regular basis. A site visit by a CACB designate familiar with the Annual Report might also be arranged on three year anniversary intervals. The report contents can be amplified to include student work products and new developments. The main idea underpinning this notion is to not tax the institutions unfairly and to enable sufficient due diligence without taking time away from the core activities of faculty and students. How do the Schools address the issue of currency in professional practice? Each school could develop its own deeper network to professional practice through its adjunct faculty and existing relationships. Schools could consider integrating for example, travel abroad programs (and travel in one s own country) with a work / study model where they are employed for part of their curriculum. The new 2 degree RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University has evolved into a rigorous curriculum (i.e. institutional partnerships with practice based models) integrated with practice using on line, virtual and face to face interaction. Lessons learned from this model could be shared and incorporated (without pre-supposing a coop curriculum) to increase student exposure and understanding of the world of practice. In addition, online access to firms and architects around the world in real time would facilitate a more fulsome design studio / practice experience. Lack of actual exposure to practice within a curriculum is a common concern internationally. Improving this situation alone can and most likely will in many cases yield other offers of summer employment.

5 5 P a g e Other Can we retain the MArch credential and continue to meet the CES but modify the criteria to encourage uniqueness and specialization, enabling schools to respond to their own market requirements and remain distinct and different from others? Can we enable students in any school in Canada to access particular courses / content / expertise and faculty from other institutions - online - to enrich their own educational experience while still remaining grounded in their institution of choice? 2 Can or should an MArch graduate s transcript and portfolio of work products be deemed more important than the school they graduate from? Conclusion Despite the Proposition, this paper is not prepared with an anti - accreditation bias, nor is it intended to suggest the mood of the schools although it is widely known that the time, cost, process and deliverables are not universally enjoyed. I would be remiss to not declare that we do have reason to be very proud of a fine cohort of faculty and students in our Canadian Schools of Architecture that consistently in my experience, rank with the best schools I have visited elsewhere. We nevertheless must address this education crossroad. Author Barry Johns FRAIC (HON) FAIA is a founding member and former Chair of CACB, having served on its Board for 10 years, a Visiting Team member and Team Chair numerous times in Canada and Observer in the United States; a member of Council of the AAA for two terms and a former Interim Director of Practice of the Alberta Association of Architects; Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary for close to a decade, teacher, visiting critic and lecturer at Dalhousie, McGill, University of Montreal, Clemson University and many major cities in Canada and internationally; principal owner of a private practice in Architecture since 1981; current member of the RAIC Board and Chancellor of the College of Fellows. He is one of the architects in Canada who remain intimately connected with the worlds of academe, the profession and its regulators. 1 Architects Journal, 13/12/13, Editor Christine Murray 2 MOOC s (Massive Open Online Courses) also come to mind here and I suspect the architectural profession will be among the first to fully embrace their potential - to increase awareness of what architects do as well as to enable a broader exposure of architecture to a general public interested in learning about architecture as a worthy societal and environmental issue and to make a broader understanding of architecture better appreciated. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donated $800,000 to Athabasca University in 2013 for research into the impact and potential of MOOC s. I don t think this is a coincidence AU is expert in online delivery and the RAIC Centre for Architecture at Athabasca University already has more than a dozen interested students cherry picking architecture courses, as well as its more serious growing roster of FTE s.