The path to licensure within the U.S. is becoming more diverse from gender, race, and ethnic standpoints, according to NCARB’s annual NCARB by the Numbers report. The report also notes that the profession is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of candidates on the licensure path also increasing.
2021 saw a 23% increase in the number of candidates completing the path to licensure compared to 2020, when the pandemic saw a significant decline in participation in the licensure path. There was also a 39% increase in exams taken, and a 26% increase in exams completed.
The number of new architects increased by 23% from 2020, but is still 24% lower than pre-pandemic averages, suggesting the impact of the pandemic has still not waned.
The report also found that the average candidate takes 13 years to complete the path to licensure from starting college to receiving a license, with women finishing on average six months sooner than men.
Women also now represent 40% of new architects, while 60% of new licensure candidates identify as a person of color; the first time in NCARB history that people of color formed the majority of new candidates.
While the racial and ethnic diversity of candidates within the licensure system is increasing, the report notes that white candidates, particularly white men, are still overrepresented compared to U.S. census data. Candidates of color are also far more likely to stop pursuing a license, reflecting previous findings from NCARB and NOMA’s Baseline on Belongings report into disparities within the system.
News of the report comes one week after NCARB announced the launch of free practice exams for the ARE to assist candidates preparing for the exam. The licensing body also recently advanced a deal with its UK counterpart, ARB, on reciprocal architectural licensure for architects within the two countries.
4 Comments
The changes are driven by underlying demographic dynamics. Has nothing to do with NCARB or AIA. These slept on their job. Generations of talent have been lost due to bias in architecture. Competition is good for society. Licensure should never have been left in the hands of individual architects. Similar to Engineers, Lawyers, Doctors, teachers.
If it were easier to get licensed we'd be like Europe where every third person working some service/gig job would an architect.
It shouldn't be easy to get licensed and call yourself an architect, agree with that. The problem is the question of equality of opportunity, and the lack of a structured rite of passage from education to profession within the American system. NCARB's tests are notoriously haphazardly written, unsure as to what skills they're actually testing for, and vary quite vastly in terms of what they might choose to leave out from questions in a given division which makes it akin to playing roulette.
If you practice in the USA, you know that architecture is one of the least diverse professions out there - and the reasons for that is a long list indeed; but at the heart of it I do believe it is the disconnect between what the architecture education is meant to give versus the expectations that await outside of it, and both should be able to learn from one another.
As for Europe, I know Italy holds some sort of record for having the most architects per capita, but also look at France for instance- which only has 20-something architecture programs in higher education offered in the country.
"It shouldn't be easy to get licensed and call yourself an architect, agree with that."
Why?
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