CACB accreditation visit 2012: March 3 to 7
Schedule [.pdf]
CACB accreditation webpage
At McGill, the first professional degree in architecture is the M.Arch. (professional) which is accredited by the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB), and recognized as accredited by the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) in the USA.
In Canada, all provincial associations recommend a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The Canadian Architectural Certification Board (CACB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit Canadian professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes two types of accredited degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture and the Master of Architecture. A program may be granted a six-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on its degree of conformance with established educational standards. Masters degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree, which, when earned sequentially, comprise an accredited professional education. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.
All provincial associations in Canada require that applicants for licensure have their educational credentials certified by the CACB. While graduation from a CACB-accredited program does not assure registration, the accrediting process is intended to verify that each accredited program substantially meets those standards that, as a whole, comprise an appropriate education for an architect.
Recent accreditation history
Prior to 1999, the professional program in architecture was structured as a four-year, or eight-semester, course of study, divided into two parts. The first part, for students entering with the Quebec Diploma of Collegial Studies in Pure and Applied Science, or the equivalent, was a three year design-based program leading to a non-professional degree, Bachelor of Science (Architecture). The second part, consisting of a minimum of two semesters for students with the McGill B.Sc.(Arch.) degree, led to the professional B.Arch.
In the fall of 1996, the School initiated a review of the professional program, with the intention of replacing the B.Arch. with the Master of Architecture as the first professional degree. The School’s proposal for the replacement of the B.Arch. with the M.Arch. as the first professional degree in architecture was completed in the fall of 1998 and approved by the University Senate in May 1999. The new program went into effect in September 1999, and the first graduates with the new professional Master of Architecture completed all course work in December 2000.
The school was visited in the spring of 2001, and the M.Arch. (professional) degree was accredited for a full five-year term, to December 31, 2005. The School was visited again in March 2006, and accredited for a full six-year term, to December 31, 2012.
CACB Conditions for Accreditation [.pdf]
CACB Student Performance Criteria [.pdf]
Architecture Program Report 2006 [.pdf]
Architecture Program Report 2006: Matrix [.pdf]
Visiting Team Report 2006 [.pdf]
Images of 2006 accreditation visit
