Criteria for Professional Qualification. White Paper

Sustainability has become a pervasive influence and seemingly ubiquitous presence within higher education programmes. The scale of anthropogenic impacts on the Earth’s life systems, the compelling evidence of a rapidly changing climate, international directives concerning the pursuit of sustainable development, and stringent legislative requirements, have all contributed to the acknowledgement that education at both preand post-professional levels has a significant role to play in addressing these challenges. As a key contributor to global emissions and wider environmental issues, it is widely recognised that architecture and other built environment disciplines must act appropriately and decisively. In response, educators, students, and practitioners have understandably been charged with significant responsibility to engage fully with the sustainability agenda, although there are numerous pedagogical, regulatory, and professional barriers that must be overcome. This white paper on “Criteria for Professional Qualification” represents a comprehensive synthesis of the activities performed by the EDUCATE (Environmental Design in University Curricula and Architectural Training in Europe) project from 2009 to 2012. In so doing, it draws largely from key previously published documents that include the following:  State of the Art of Environmental Sustainability in Academic Curricula and Conditions for Registration (2010)  State of the Art of Environmental Sustainability in Professional Practice (2010)  Benchmarking of Professional Needs (2011)  Framework for Curriculum Development (2011)  Results of Course and Curriculum Development (2012) These documents are all available for download from https://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/en/projects/educate The paper presented here proposes principles and strategies - illustrated in terms of requirements of the building market, models of progression towards professional qualification, regulatory framework, and priorities for sustainable design practice - to measure and verify the knowledge, skill and competence of sustainable environmental design that is expected of graduates and practitioners at every level of their academic education and professional training and within the practice of architecture and urban design. Founded on the 11 principles of Article 46 - Training of Architects of the European Directive 2005/36 on the mutual recognition of professional qualifications in Europe, this paper takes a propositive approach to current legislation and initiatives promoted by professional and regulatory bodies with the aim of defining strategies to promote consistency in the requirements for qualification at an international level and moving closer to the goal of embracing environmental sustainability within the design of the built environment. This white paper on “Criteria for Professional Qualification” is the result of a collaborative effort directed and coordinated by Eliana Cangelli (Department DATA, University of Rome La Sapienza), and with contributions from Lukia Fais (Department DATA, University of Rome La Sapienza), Sergio Altomonte (University of Nottingham), Paula Cadima and Simos Yannas (Architectural Association School of Architecture), Barbara Haussmann and Hana Riemer (Technical University of Munich), Sara Horvath and Gábor Becker (Budapest University of Technology and Economics). To be acknowledged is also the support provided to the finalisation of this white paper by the representatives of the European Chambers of Architects participating to EDUCATE: Richard Hawkes (Royal Institute of British Architects, United Kingdom), Richard Delviesmaison (Conseil National de l‘Ordre des Architectes de Belgique, Belgium), Oliver Heiss (Bayerische Architektenkammer, Germany), Patrizia Colletta (Ordine degli Architetti, Pianificatori, Paessaggisti e Conservatori di Roma e Provincia, Italy), Nieves Mestre and Eduardo Roig (Consejo Superior de Colegios de Arquitectos de Espana, Spain), Jolan Racz and Attila Ertsey (Magyar Epitesz Kamara, Hungary).