National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB)

In the United States, most registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by institutions with U.S. regional accreditation, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted an eight-year term, an eight-year term with conditions, or a two-year term of continuing accreditation, or a three-year term of initial accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established education standards.
Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may require a non-accredited undergraduate degree in architecture for admission. However, the non-accredited degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

The NAAB grants candidacy status to new programs that have developed viable plans for achieving initial accreditation. Candidacy status indicates that a program expects to achieve initial accreditation within six years of achieving candidacy,  if its plan is properly implemented.

In order to meet the education requirement, set forth by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, an applicant for an NCARB Certificate must hold a professional degree in architecture from a program accredited by the NAAB; the degree must have been awarded not more than two years prior to initial accreditation. However, meeting the education requirement for the NCARB Certificate may not be equivalent to meeting the education requirement for registration in a specific jurisdiction. Please contact NCARB for more information.

 

Wenzhou-Kean University School of Public Architecture was granted candidacy status for the following professional degree program(s) in architecture:
Master of Architecture (preprofessional degree + 55 graduate credit hours)

Year candidacy awarded: 2020

Next visit: Continuation of Candidacy, 2021

Projected year to achieve initial accreditation: 2024

Earliest graduation date projected to meet NCARB education requirement: 2023

In order to promote transparency in the process of accreditation in architecture education, the following documents are available to the public as they are prepared as part of the candidacy process in the Executive Director’s Office, located on the Ge He Kai Hall(GHKH A201):

Also available are the NAAB Conditions 2014, Procedures for Accreditation 2015, and the  Current Conditions 2020,  Procedures for Accreditation 2020.