The RIBA is the largest professional institute for architects in the United Kingdom. It has a long-standing involvement in promoting high quality and innovative architectural education. Through validation it identifies courses and examinations which achieve the standards necessary to prepare students for the professional practice of architecture. Students who have successfully completed Parts 1, 2 and 3 of validated courses are eligible for Corporate Membership of the Institute.

ARB is the statutory body responsible for keeping a Register of Architects and for determining the standards of education and professional competence required for registration as an Architect in the UK. It is also the UK Competent Authority for Europe with the mandate to implement the 1985 European Commission Architects Directive which specifies the core areas and duration of study required for European recognition of a qualification in Architecture. Students who have successfully completed Parts 1, 2 and 3 of validated courses become eligible to be registered to practise as an Architect in the UK (and must register if they wish to practise under the title of Architect.)

The RIBA and the ARB each have specific objectives in respect of validation of courses in architecture and the Visitor's recommendations on individual courses and examinations take full account of these specific, and interrelated, objectives.

RIBA Objectives. Through the work of the Visitors the RIBA seeks to enhance and Criteria for the quality of architectural education and to encourage experiment, Validation innovation, and contemporary relevance in course delivery and teaching methods. The RIBA requires the validation process to operate so as to stimulate critical self analysis in Schools, and to provide assistance to Schools in achieving their objectives.

The RIBA is concerned with the progression of the Architect's education from the foundation course which may precede the Part 1 programme, through the essential Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 programmes. The Institute is also interested in the professional training offered as an integral part of the full time equivalent course and in the minimum two years of practical training, the first normally between Parts 1 and 2 and the second after completion of Part 2.

The RIBA has developed an Outline Syllabus (see Part 2: Criteria for Validation) which forms the basis for the RIBA's own Examination in Architecture. All courses seeking validation are required to demonstrate achievement of standards which meet or exceed this Outline Syllabus. The Syllabus is normally reviewed and re-published every five years (most recently in 1996). In addition, the RIBA helped draft, and supports, the content of Articles 3 and 4 of the European Commission Architects Directive (see Part 2: Criteria for Validation), and its criteria for approval and Outline Syllabus have been drafted with the aim of being fully compatible with the Directive.

The RIBA also has an interest in specialist areas allied to the core architectural syllabus. These include, but are not restricted to, aspects of urban design, planning, project management, management, and landscape and interior design. Guidance on the acceptable proportions of 'core', 'related' and 'other' studies within any programme is provided in the published document "Criteria for Validation".

The RIBA expects students admitted to a Part 2 course or programme to have previously completed a recognised Part 1 course or programme, or a course or programme that can be demonstrated to be equivalent to Part 1. Students awarded Part 2 must have achieved Part 1 through attendance at a recognised course, or through successfully completing the RIBA ARB external entry process.

ARB Objectives. Since registration by the ARB confers the legal right to practise independently as an Architect in the UK, the ARB has a statutory duty to ensure that each person admitted to the Register of Architects meets the standards agreed to be mandatory for a practitioner at the point of entry into the profession. Determination of these standards is guided by Article 3 of the Architects Directive which defines the statutory framework for the range of skills and knowledge currently perceived by European Commission authorities to be within the required competence of an architect (see Part 2: Criteria for Validation).

The Architects Act 1997 states that a person is entitled to be registered if:
(a) he holds such qualifications and has gained such practical experience as may be prescribed;
or
(b) he has a standard of competence which, in the opinion of the Board, is equivalent to that demonstrated by satisfying paragraph (a)'.

The Board has a duty to decide and prescribe those qualifications which satisfy its registration requirements. These qualifications in turn provide a basis against which equivalent competence may be measured. In consequence effective validation of qualifications in architecture is central to the Board's performance of its statutory duties and one which it cannot delegate (recommendations on recognition are received from the Visiting Boards).

The ARB prescribes qualifications for registration only when it is satisfied that they signify the successful completion of all the educational and practical experience requirements for admission to the Register. It has a responsibility therefore to evaluate the entire sequence of learning and the total provision of architectural education and training at Parts 1, 2 and 3 against a framework of agreed standards as evidence of compliance with registration requirements.

Statutory prescription of a qualification is dependent on certification that graduates of a course leading to award of the qualification have successfully completed all the core requirements required for registration. Provision made by Schools for credit transfer and for assessment of prior learning is therefore also evaluated through the work of the Visiting Boards.

More detailed guidance on ARB criteria for validation is included in the documents reproduced in Part 2: Criteria for Validation.