Qualifications Department Activities March 2007 to October 2007

• Ed Crowe, Emma Matthews and Mike Starling attended a Forum on 30 March at which stakeholders discussed the Quality Assurance Agency’s (QAA) revised Architecture Subject Benchmark Statement. The event was co-ordinated by the Centre for Education in the Built Environment (CEBE).

• Emma Matthews met with representatives of ARCHAOS, the national student body, on 4 April.

• Emma Matthews participated in the CEBE seminar for new teachers in architecture. ARB had been invited to give a presentation outlining ARB’s role in terms of prescribing qualifications etc.

• Alison Carr and Emma Matthews met informally with the RIBA’s Director of Education, David Gloster, on 11 April to provide the RIBA with feedback on its proposals vis-à-vis the review of the Criteria.

• Emma Matthews was invited to and attended the annual SCHOSA Forum which was held in Hamburg on 12-14 April.

• Ed Crowe and Grant Dyble spent a day at the University of Central England on 10 May to familiarise themselves with how a typical school of architecture operates.

• Emma Matthews and Mike Starling attended a Higher Education Regulation Review Group (HERRG) Seminar on 16 May.

• Elaine Stowell attended the UK Inter Professional Group Forum on 17 May.

• Alison Carr, Ed Crowe and Emma Matthews met with representatives of SCHOSA on 18 May for one of a cycle of informal liaison meetings held each year.

• Alison Carr, Elaine Stowell and Emma Matthews met Joni Tyler, Head of Continuing Professional Development at the RIBA on 18 May to discuss the RIBA courses for architects returning to practise.

• Elaine Stowell attended the UKIPG Working Party on Further and Higher Education on 29 May.

• The first meeting of the Practical Training Experience Working Group took place on 29 May.

• On 11 June Rob Wilson and Emma Matthews attended an update seminar on the Services and Internal Market Directive, hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry.

• On 15 June Emma Matthews attended a meeting of the EU Advisory Committee on Education and Training in the Field of Architecture in Brussels.

• On 19 June, members of the Department participated in ARB’s Open Day, which formed part of ‘Architecture Week’.

• On 2 July, a Round Table Feedback meeting was held with representatives on the institutions which had submitted prescription applications during the 2006/7 cycle.

• On 9 July the second meeting of the Practical Training Experience Working Group took place.

• On 13 July the Qualifications Team attended the Architectural Association end of year show.

• Staff met informally with representatives of SCHOSA on 3 October 2007 to discuss the progress being made on the draft revised Subject Benchmark Statement for Architecture.

• Mike Starling and Emma Matthews met with representatives of the QAA to discuss progress in relation to the development of the draft revised Subject Benchmark Statement for Architecture on 24 September 2007.

• Alison Carr and Emma Matthews met informally with the representatives of the RIBA on 25 September 2007 to discuss, amongst other things, the draft revised Subject Benchmark Statement for Architecture and its relationship to the development of the Criteria and progress in relation to the outsourcing of ARB’s Prescribed Examination.

• Mike Starling and Emma Matthews met with representatives of the QAA, the RIBA and SCHOSA to discuss the opportunity which had arisen to develop a single document which would contain the common Criteria as well as the QAA’s Subject Benchmark Statement on 10 October 2007.

• Staff gave a presentation to a Chinese delegation who were interested in the Part 3 qualification and ARB’s position as a statutory regulator within the UK on 16 October 2007.

• Emma Matthews attended a meeting of the Gateways to the Professional Collaborative Forum on 17 October 2007.  The meeting was attended by representatives of a number of professional and statutory bodies, as well as representatives of HERRG.  Bill Rammell, the Minister of State, Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, introduced the meeting

Planning Meetings held:

University College London
University of the West of England
University of East London
London Metropolitan University
Queens University, Belfast

University Liaison Visits:

RIBA NW – Part 3
Nottingham Trent University – Part 1
University of Portsmouth – Part 2
Edinburgh College of Art – Part 1
University of Newcastle upon Tyne – Part 1
University of Portsmouth – Part 3
Universities of Dundee and Strathclyde – Part 3
University of Bath – Part 3
Glasgow School of Art – Part 3
Architectural Association – Part 3
University of Bath – Part 2
University of Lincoln – Part 2
University of Huddersfield – Part 3
Manchester School of Architecture – Part 2
University of Kent – Part 2
Kingston University – Part 3
Queens University, Belfast – Part 3
University of Westminster – Part 2