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RIBA Professional Experience Regulations

Regulation 1

The minimum period of professional experience is 24 months, which normally must be completed after the start of an architectural course and before sitting the RIBA Examination in Professional Practice and Management, (Part 3). Normally twelve months of professional experience must be undertaken in the United Kingdom, under the direct supervision of an architect, after passing or gaining exemption from Part 2 of the RIBA Examination in Architecture and prior to sitting the RIBA Examination in Professional Practice and Management, (Part 3).

Notes
A period of less than 3 months' continuous duration in an architect's office will not normally be accepted as part of the required 24 months' professional training.

Part time employment of less than 20 hours per week is inadequate for training purposes and is therefore not acceptable as part of the minimum 24 months' professional experience. Normal leave should be counted as working time.

Guidance Notes on Possible Exemptions from Regulation 1

Stage 1 Experience ('Year Out')
Part time students working more than 20 hours per week during their course of study may apply for exemption from the first 12 months of professional experience, provided that immediately prior to the start of, or during, an architectural course leading to or recognised for exemption from Part 1 or Part 2 of the RIBA Examination in Architecture, they have had not less than 6 years' experience in architects' offices involving activities appropriate to the RIBA Professional Development and Experience Scheme. Whether or not exemption is granted will be at the discretion of the applicant's Professional Studies Advisor who will have regard to the quality of the previous experience for the purposes of practical training.

Stage 2 Experience (Post Part 2)
Candidates with post-Part 2 experience gained outside the UK under the direct supervision and guidance of an architect on activities appropriate to the current RIBA Part 3 Outline Syllabus (contained in the RIBA ARB Criteria for Validation document), and with 12 months of previous post-Part 1 experience gained in the UK under the direct supervision and guidance of a UK registered architect, may apply for exemption from the requirement to complete a further 12 months of UK professional experience post-Part 2. Applications should be made to the RIBA Professional Examinations Co-ordinator using Stage 2 Professional Experience Exemption Application Pro-forma No.2 and carry the supporting recommendation of their Professional Studies Advisor, whose guidance has been sought on this matter.

Regulation 2

Within the period of professional experience, a maximum of 5 working days may be spent engaged in professional or community activity, under the direct supervision of a person engaged in that activity.

Notes
The work must be with a properly constituted and reputable organisation, such as an educational charity, professional body or community association. Undertaking a taught course will not normally count for the purposes of this regulation.
The maximum of 5 working days may be spread over a period of time, provided that the student's commitment is sustained on a regular basis, for example, one evening a month for 10 months. Professional or community activity may be undertaken as part of paid or unpaid employment or as voluntary activity in the student's spare time. An office is under no obligation to release a student during normal working hours to participate in this activity.
A Professional Experience and Development Record should be completed for each engagement of professional or community activity and an Employment Mentor identified, even if the activity is undertaken on a voluntary basis.

Regulation 3

Stage One Professional Experience: To allow 6 paid working days in total for professional activities which have the educational objective of broadening the student's professional experience and up to 4 days paid leave in total for attendance at Stage One study/recall days at the student's school of architecture. This will be matched by an equivalent amount of the student's own unpaid time to broadening their professional experience.

Stage Two Professional Experience: To allow 10 paid working days in total for professional activities which have the educational objective of broadening the student's professional experience and 10 working days paid leave in total for attendance at Part Three courses and examinations. Not more than 10 paid working days to be taken in one calendar year.

Notes
Professional activities which have the educational objective of broadening the student's professional experience may include activities such as; attendance at site visits or meetings not directly related to the student's own work within the office; work shadowing; buildings visits or office seminars; other non-productive activities which give a breadth of work experience representative of the practice's workload to support the student's understanding and preparation for Part 3 Examination. This will be matched by an equivalent amount of the student's own unpaid time for private study and for broadening their professional experience. Additional time off, paid or unpaid, for examination preparation or for other unproductive activity that the student wishes to undertake to broaden their professional experience is at the discretion of the practice.

Regulation 4

Within the period of professional experience, a minimum of 35 hours a year must be spent on continuing professional development.

Notes
Architects have a professional duty to undertake 35 hours' monitored and recorded development each year. Students should begin to become accustomed to this process in their first weeks in architectural practice. CPD should be undertaken under the RIBA's CPD requirements and regularly monitored and recorded. Some activities that the student will undertake as part of his/her professional experience, for example, reviewing past project files in the student's spare time, can count also as valid CPD.

Regulation 5

Experience gained in agency employment will count as training for the purposes of professional experience only if the principal of the office in which the work is done accepts the responsibilities of the Employment Mentor, and the work is of such a nature and quality to enable the architecture student to fulfil the learning objectives of the RIBA Professional Experience and Development scheme.

Regulation 6

Other forms of professional experience are admissible under the regulations of this scheme. The location and duration of acceptable professional experience is described in the chart in the guidance notes. Cases where it appears that the application of any rule may bear unduly harshly on the student concerned may be referred to the RIBA's Head of Professional Education and Curricular Development.

Notes
A new Professional Experience and Development Record should be completed for each 3-month period of professional experience, or lesser period in the case of professional and community activity. In each work setting, a mentor should be identified who can comment on the student's performance and is willing to undertake the duties and responsibilities of an Employment Mentor.

Regulation 7

Professional Experience should be fully recorded in the RIBA Professional Development and Experience Record.

Notes
The PEDR replaces the old paper based Practical Training record or 'log book.' All Stage 1 'year out' students are required to use the PEDR. From 1 October 2004 any student embarking on post Part 2 experience must use the PEDR even if they have recorded their 'year out' experience in the log book, and submit both for the Part 3 examination. The use of the logbook will only be allowed in exceptional circumstances after approval from the student's Professional Studies Advisor and the Head of Professional Education at the RIBA. e.g. if an entrant for the Part 3 examination has a fully signed and completed old log book with at least 18 months of the minimum 24 required (i.e. 12 months post Part 1 and at least 6 months post Part 2) and is finishing off the remaining 6 months prior to taking the Part 3 examination.

Guidance notes on possible grounds for exemption from using the RIBA professional Experience & Development Record.
Students with lengthy experience who have reached a degree of responsibility in their offices which gives them supervisory functions for which the Professional Experience and Development Scheme does not cater, may apply to their Professional Studies Advisor for permission to use the RIBA Certificates of Professional Experience in lieu of the Professional Experience and Development Record sheets, provided that they can satisfy the following conditions:

• They are over the age of 30
• They have had at least 6 years' experience in architects' offices
• They are working at a sufficient level to be capable of taking responsibility for small jobs or of acting as a team leader in charge of a number of assistants engaged on either a large project or a series of smaller projects.

If, for reasons considered valid by the Professional Studies Advisor, a student has not been able to maintain an RIBA Professional Experience and Development Record, such a student may instead submit a Certificate of Professional Experience. Because a Certificate of Professional Experience is of limited value to the Professional Practice Examiners in assessing the quality of experience, it must be accompanied by a report (of approximately 2000 words) and supplementary evidence, giving the student's own appreciation of the value of each employment to date.

Regulation 8

Completed PEDR quarterly record sheets signed by the Employment Mentor must be received by the Professional Studies Advisor (PSA) within 2 months of the end of the quarter.

Notes
The record must be completed fully by the student and signed by the Employment Mentor and the Professional Studies Advisor before it can be submitted for the RIBA Examination in Professional Practice and Management (Part 3)

Record sheets should be sent to the PSA as soon as possible after completion and preferably within 1 month of the end of the quarter.

Late submissions and retrospective completion may only be allowed at the discretion of the PSA, and normally only with exceptional mitigating circumstances e.g. illness, family bereavement, and domestic upheaval. Such circumstances should be brought to the attention of the PSA as soon as is reasonably possible.