Educators Grapple with the Best Preparation for Today's Practice
One size does not fit all could be the motto for professional architectural education. Students who want to become architects have two choices: Immediately following high school, students can enter a five-year Bachelor of Architecture degree program. Alternatively, students can wait until graduate school and earn a Master of Architecture degree, which typically requires three years for those with no prior architectural course work.
But those paths are diverging. The National Architectural Accrediting Board announced in 2000 plans to study the possible elimination of the B.Arch. degree. After opposition from many parties, NAAB decided to table the issue until next year. "Both degrees are valuable and viable," says Kenneth Schwartz, who is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and whose term as NAAB president ended earlier this month. "The debate is not a front burner issue anymore" and designation of a single professional degree is unlikely, he says.