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Condition 11: |
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Professional Degrees and Curriculum
The NAAB only accredits professional programs offering the Bachelor of Architecture and the Master of Architecture degrees. The curricular requirements for awarding these degrees must include three components-general studies, professional studies, and electives2-which respond to the needs of the institution, the architecture profession, and the students respectively. Together these three components comprise a liberal education in architecture and ensure that graduates will be technically competent, critical thinkers who are capable of defining multiple career paths within a changing societal context.
These components are defined as follows:
- General studies: A professional degree must include general studies in the arts and sciences, either as an admission requirement or as part of the curriculum. While this work is traditionally governed by guidelines established by the institution, the program must ensure that students have the prerequisite general studies to undertake professional studies.
- Professional studies: The core of a professional degree consists of the required courses that satisfy the NAAB Student Performance Criteria. The program may require additional core courses to address its mission or institutional context, but no more than 60 percent of the student's required post-secondary education can be devoted to professional studies. For masters students, this calculation includes course work taken for an undergraduate degree within or outside architecture.
- Electives: A professional degree must allow students to pursue their special interests. The curriculum must have sufficient flexibility so that students can complete minors or develop areas of concentration, either within or outside the program.
The APR must include the following information:
- Specification of the degree(s) offered
- For each degree offered, an outline of the curriculum showing the distribution of general studies, professional studies (including their prerequisites), and electives
- For each degree offered, examples of the minors or concentrations students may elect to pursue
Source:
1998 Conditions and Procedures
and its 2002 Addendum
NAAB
1735 new York Avenue, MW
Washington, DC 20006-5292
and
http://www.naab.org/
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