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National Architectural Accrediting Board Conditions of Accreditation | |||
| Condition 1: |
Program Response to the NAAB Perspectives Programs must respond to the relevant interests of the five constituencies that make up the NAAB: educators (ACSA), members of the practicing profession (AIA), students (AIAS), registration board members (NCARB), and public members. Together these constituencies, each of which brings specific concerns to the accreditation process, comprise the broad range of perspectives that frame a professional education in architecture. The NAAB encourages each program to address these perspectives in a manner consistent with its scholastic identity and mission. In this section of the APR, the program must discuss how it addresses each of the following five perspectives. 1.1 Architecture Education and the Academic Context The program must demonstrate that it both benefits from and contributes to its institutional context. Given its particular mission, the APR may cover such issues as: the program's academic and professional standards for both faculty and students; interaction between the program and other programs in the institution; contributions of the students, faculty, and administrators to the governance as well as the intellectual and social life of the institution; and contributions of the institution to the program in terms of intellectual resources as well as personnel. 1.2 Architecture Education and the Students The program must demonstrate that it provides support and encouragement for students to assume leadership roles during their school years and later in the profession, and that it provides an interpersonal milieu that embraces cultural differences. Given its particular mission, the APR may cover such issues as: how students participate in establishing their individual and collective learning agendas; how they are encouraged to cooperate with, assist, share decision making with, and respect students who may be different from themselves; their access to the critical information needed to shape their futures; their exposure to the national and international context of practice and the work of the allied design disciplines; and how students' diversity, distinctiveness, self-worth, and dignity are nurtured. 1.3 Architecture Education and Registration The program must demonstrate that it provides students with a sound preparation for the transition to internship and licensure. Given its particular mission, the APR may cover such issues as: the program's relationship with the state registration board, the exposure of students to internship requirements and continuing education beyond graduation, students' understanding of their responsibility for professional conduct, and the proportion of alumni who have sought and achieved licensure since the previous visit. 1.4 Architecture Education and the Profession The program must demonstrate how it prepares students to practice and assume new roles within a context of increasing cultural diversity, changing client and regulatory demands, and an expanding knowledge base. Given its particular mission, the APR may cover such issues as: the program's engagement of the professional community in the life of the school; how students gain an awareness of the need to advance their knowledge of architecture through a lifetime of practice and research; how students develop an appreciation of the diverse and collaborative roles assumed by architects in practice; how students develop an understanding of and respect for the roles and responsibilities of the associated disciplines; how students learn to reconcile the conflicts between architects' obligations to their clients, the public, and the demands of the creative enterprise; and how students acquire the ethics for upholding the integrity of the profession. 1.5 Architecture Education and Society The program must demonstrate that it not only equips students with an informed understanding of social and environmental problems but that it also develops their capacity to help address these problems with sound architecture and urban design decisions. Given its particular mission, the APR may cover such issues as: how students gain an informed understanding of architecture as a social art, including the complex processes carried out by the multiple stakeholders who shape built environments; the emphasis given to generating the knowledge that can mitigate social and environmental problems; how students gain an understanding of the ethical implications of built environment decisions; and how a climate of civic engagement is nurtured, including a commitment to professional and public service.
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