New affordable route for aspiring architects to get ahead with postgraduate apprenticeship from the University of Cambridge

New affordable route for aspiring architects to get ahead with postgraduate apprenticeship from the University of Cambridge.

The University of Cambridge is launching an exciting new postgraduate apprenticeship opportunity for aspiring architects in September 2020 – offering an affordable route to qualifying as an architect that will prepare students for the rapidly changing world of professional practice in the 21st century.

As part of the Government’s Apprenticeship scheme, the Master of Studies (MSt) in Architecture draws on University of Cambridge expertise and experience to help students complete their professional qualifications through part-time flexible study led by renowned professionals from the world of architecture.

All costs will be covered by the Government’s Apprenticeship Levy and the employer, meaning that students do not need to pay any fees. Students will also earn a salary whilst they undertake the apprenticeship. This opens up a more affordable route for graduates to complete their training and a chance for architecture practices to nurture young talent.

The new University of Cambridge Apprenticeship is a purpose-designed course, which aims to provide both Part II and Part III of the Royal Institute of British Architects/Architects Registration Board. Part II mixes master classes, lectures, supervisions, seminars and studio work over three two-week sessions every year for three years, followed by 6-12 months to complete the End Point Assessment and Part III of the training. Apprentices can fit their studies around existing professional commitments and gain invaluable work experience as they go.

The lectures will be taught by experts from inside the University and from the profession, and studio work will be run as a series of master classes by leading practitioners in their particular fields. Students, who become full members of the University, will be matriculated at Queens’ College and will receive a Master of Studies from the University of Cambridge.

“In designing this course, we were very keen not just to adapt an existing course but to rethink the traditional architectural educational model,” said Dr. James Campbell, Head of the University’s Department of Architecture. “Our students will be embedded in practice, and there will be a strong emphasis on team working. We see this as a course for professionals taught by professionals.”

The course will be led by Dr. Timothy Brittain-Catlin, who has been teaching in architecture schools since 1993, including at Cambridge, the Architectural Association, New York University in London, and most recently at the University of Kent, where his team won last year’s Faculty of Humanities teaching prize.

“We are delighted that Timothy will be leading this course,” said Dr. Campbell. “He is an outstanding teacher with long-established and active links to the architectural profession and a strong awareness of its needs and priorities.”

Dr. Brittain-Catlin added: “The costs of traditional architectural education are becoming increasingly difficult for graduates to cover and risk excluding large tranches of society from the profession. We see the apprenticeship model as an important way of redressing this urgent challenge.”

Course applicants must have completed Royal Institute of British Architects/Architects Registration Board Part I through a recognised degree course or apprenticeship. They can then apply during their year out through the architectural practice they are working for. The apprenticeship route has been agreed with the RIBA and ARB with the intention that validation will be in place by the time of graduation.

Expressions of interest for the new course, which starts in September 2020, are invited from architecture practices based in England. Practices can pay for part of the course through the UK Government’s Apprenticeship Levy if they are contributing to it. Students have no costs to pay, thus reducing the burden for aspiring architects.

The course will be taught by Cambridge’s Department of Architecture and will be administered by the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education, which is the registered apprenticeship provider for the University of Cambridge. This new architecture apprenticeship will join a growing stable of postgraduate apprenticeships offered by the University of Cambridge.

For further details, please visit the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education website at www.ice.cam.ac.uk/course/mst-architecture-apprenticeship