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Accreditation
Accreditation is a voluntary, non-governmental system of self-regulation. It is the public recognition granted to a professional program that meets established professional qualifications and educational standards through initial and periodic evaluations. Both of our professional degrees, the Master of Architecture and the Master of Landscape Architecture, are accredited programs. Successful graduates are certified, which is a prerequisite to seeking a professional license to practice architecture or landscape architecture.
The Canadian Architectural Certification Board is the sole organization recognized by the architectural profession in Canada to accredit professional degree programs in architecture offered by Canadian universities.
"In Canada, all provincial/territorial associations/institutes/orders 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 Master of Architecture (M.Arch) and the Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch). 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.
Master’s 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."
After its last continuing accreditation visit in 2018, the CACB accredited the M.Arch program for six years.
The six other signatories of the Canberra Accord – Australia, China, Korea, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States – recognize the degree.
The Landscape Architecture Accreditation Council of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects accredits the Master of Landscape Architecture professional degree through its Landscape Architecture Accreditation Council. The council evaluates, advocates for, advances, and maintains the quality of education in Canadian landscape architectural programs. It typically evaluates university programs every five years to determine compliance with its published minimum standards and the programs’ own stated goals.
First recognized in 1997, the LAAC last accredited the MLA program in 2018 for six years.
The American Society of Landscape Architecture recognizes programs accredited by the LAAC as equivalent to American accredited programs under a reciprocity agreement.