Conditions for

Accreditation
2020 Edition

February 10, 2020

© 2020 by the National Architectural

National Accrediting Board. All Rights Reserved.
Architectural
Accrediting
Board, Inc.
Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................ii
1 Context and Mission ............................................................................................................................ 1
2 Shared Values of the Discipline and Profession ............................................................................... 1
3 Program and Student Criteria ............................................................................................................. 2
3.1 Program Criteria............................................................................................................................ 2
PC.1 Career Paths .................................................................................................................... 2
PC.2 Design .............................................................................................................................. 2
PC.3 Ecological Literacy and Responsibility ........................................................................... 2
PC.4 History and Theory .......................................................................................................... 2
PC.5 Research and Innovation ................................................................................................. 2
PC.6 Leadership and Collaboration .......................................................................................... 2
PC.7 Learning and Teaching Culture ....................................................................................... 2
PC.8 Social Equity and Inclusion .............................................................................................. 2
3.2 Student Criteria: Student Learning Objectives and Outcomes ..................................................... 3
SC.1 Health, Safety, and Welfare in the Built Environment ..................................................... 3
SC.2 Professional Practice ....................................................................................................... 3
SC.3 Regulatory Context .......................................................................................................... 3
SC.4 Technical Knowledge ....................................................................................................... 3
SC.5 Design Synthesis ............................................................................................................. 4
SC.6 Building Integration ......................................................................................................... 4
4 Curricular Framework .......................................................................................................................... 5
4.1 Institutional Accreditation .............................................................................................................. 5
4.2 Professional Degrees and Curriculum .......................................................................................... 5
4.3 Evaluation of Preparatory Education ............................................................................................ 6
5 Resources ............................................................................................................................................. 7
5.1 Structure and Governance............................................................................................................ 7
5.2 Planning and Assessment ............................................................................................................ 7
5.3 Curricular Development ................................................................................................................ 7
5.4 Human Resources and Human Resource Development.............................................................. 7
5.5 Social Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion .......................................................................................... 8
5.6 Physical Resources ...................................................................................................................... 8
5.7 Financial Resources ..................................................................................................................... 8
5.8 Information Resources .................................................................................................................. 8
6 Public Information ................................................................................................................................ 9
6.1 Statement on NAAB-Accredited Degrees .................................................................................... 9
6.2 Access to NAAB Conditions and Procedures ............................................................................... 9
6.3 Access to Career Development Information ................................................................................. 9
6.4 Public Access to Accreditation Reports and Related Documents ............................................... 9
6.5 Admissions and Advising ........................................................................................................... 10
6.6 Student Financial Information .................................................................................................... 10
Appendix 1. Statement on Changes to the NAAB Conditions and Procedures for Accreditation .............. 11
Appendix 2. Statement on NAAB-Accredited Degrees ............................................................................... 12
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

Introduction
Accreditation in architecture is a voluntary quality-assurance process by which services and operations
are evaluated by a third party against a set of standards established by the third party, with input and
collaboration from peers in the field. Accreditation is evidence that a collegiate architecture program has
met standards essential to produce graduates who have a solid educational foundation and are capable
of leading the way in innovation, emerging technologies, and in anticipating the health, safety, and
welfare needs of the public.

Since1975, the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) has accredited professional degree
programs rather than schools or universities, and it only accredits first professional architecture degree
programs. As such, the NAAB does not accredit pre-professional degrees or other preparatory education
that may serve as a prerequisite for admission to a professional architecture degree program.

The NAAB is the only agency recognized by registration boards in U. S. jurisdictions to accredit
professional degree programs in architecture. Because most registration boards require an applicant for
licensure to hold a NAAB-accredited degree, obtaining such a degree is an essential part of gaining
access to the licensed practice of architecture.

The NAAB requires a self-assessment by the accredited-degree program and an evaluation of that
assessment by the NAAB, along with a site visit by a NAAB team of trained volunteers who report their
observations. The NAAB Board of Directors makes the decision regarding the term of accreditation.

While the NAAB stipulates the conditions and accreditation criteria that must be met, it specifies neither
the education format nor the type of work that may serve as evidence of having met these criteria. The
NAAB encourages programs to develop unique learning and teaching strategies as well as innovative
methods and materials to satisfy these criteria, provided the program has a formal evaluation process for
assessing student achievement and documenting the results. Specific areas and levels of excellence will
vary among accredited degree programs as will approaches to meeting the conditions and reporting
requirements. Regardless, academic units must demonstrate control over the accredited program(s) to
ensure compliance with all accreditation criteria and policies. Positive aspects of a degree program in one
area cannot override deficiencies in another.

In preparing for this edition of the Conditions and Procedures, the NAAB initiated a two-year dialogue with
the collateral organizations to advance an accreditation process that ensures minimum competency of
graduates based on the following goals:
● Promote excellence and innovation in architecture education
● Allow program flexibility that adapts to a dynamic context
● Encourage distinctiveness among programs
● Support equity, diversity, and inclusion in architecture education and the profession
● Increase access to the profession of architecture
● Stimulate the generation of new knowledge
● Protect the public interest

The two major accreditation documents are the NAAB Conditions for Accreditation and the NAAB
Procedures for Accreditation. The Conditions for Accreditation define the standards that professional
degree programs in architecture are expected to meet. The NAAB Procedures for Accreditation outline
the procedures that programs and visiting teams must follow in order to ensure a uniform accrediting
process. The Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition apply to all programs seeking candidacy,
continuation of candidacy, initial accreditation, or continued accreditation whose visits occur after January
1, 2022. Schools whose visits are in 2021 have the option to use the 2020 Conditions or the 2014
Conditions. Programs using the 2020 Conditions must follow the 2020 Procedures, while programs that
select the option of using the 2014 Conditions must use the 2015 Procedures.

ii
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

1—Context and Mission

To help the NAAB and the visiting team understand the specific circumstances of the school, the program
must describe the following:

● The institutional context and geographic setting (public or private, urban or rural, size, etc.), and
how the program’s mission and culture influence its architecture pedagogy and impact its
development. Programs that exist within a larger educational institution must also describe the
mission of the college or university and how that shapes or influences the program. 
● The program’s role in and relationship to its academic context and university community,
including how the program benefits–and benefits from–its institutional setting and how the
program as a unit and/or its individual faculty members participate in university-wide initiatives
and the university’s academic plan. Also describe how the program, as a unit, develops
multidisciplinary relationships and leverages unique opportunities in the institution and the
community.
● The ways in which the program encourages students and faculty to learn both inside and outside
the classroom through individual and collective opportunities (e.g., field trips, participation in
professional societies and organizations, honor societies, and other program-specific or campus-
wide and community-wide activities).

2—Shared Values of the Discipline and Profession

The program must report on how it responds to the following values, all of which affect the education and
development of architects. The response to each value must also identify how the program will continue
to address these values as part of its long-range planning. These values are foundational, not exhaustive.

Design: Architects design better, safer, more equitable, resilient, and sustainable built environments.
Design thinking and integrated design solutions are hallmarks of architecture education, the discipline,
and the profession.
Environmental Stewardship and Professional Responsibility: Architects are responsible for the
impact of their work on the natural world and on public health, safety, and welfare. As professionals and
designers of the built environment, we embrace these responsibilities and act ethically to accomplish
them.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Architects commit to equity and inclusion in the environments we
design, the policies we adopt, the words we speak, the actions we take, and the respectful learning,
teaching, and working environments we create. Architects seek fairness, diversity, and social justice in
the profession and in society and support a range of pathways for students seeking access to an
architecture education.
Knowledge and Innovation: Architects create and disseminate knowledge focused on design and the
built environment in response to ever-changing conditions. New knowledge advances architecture as a
cultural force, drives innovation, and prompts the continuous improvement of the discipline.
Leadership, Collaboration, and Community Engagement: Architects practice design as a
collaborative, inclusive, creative, and empathetic enterprise with other disciplines, the communities we
serve, and the clients for whom we work.
Lifelong Learning: Architects value educational breadth and depth, including a thorough
understanding of the discipline’s body of knowledge, histories and theories, and architecture’s role in
cultural, social, environmental, economic, and built contexts. The practice of architecture demands
lifelong learning, which is a shared responsibility between academic and practice settings.

1
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

3—Program and Student Criteria

These criteria seek to evaluate the outcomes of architecture programs and student work within their
unique institutional, regional, national, international, and professional contexts, while encouraging
innovative approaches to architecture education and professional preparation.

3.1 Program Criteria (PC)

A program must demonstrate how its curriculum, structure, and other experiences address the following
criteria.

PC.1 Career Paths—How the program ensures that students understand the paths to becoming
licensed as an architect in the United States and the range of available career opportunities that
utilize the discipline’s skills and knowledge.
PC.2 Design—How the program instills in students the role of the design process in shaping the
built environment and conveys the methods by which design processes integrate multiple factors,
in different settings and scales of development, from buildings to cities.
PC.3 Ecological Knowledge and Responsibility—How the program instills in students a
holistic understanding of the dynamic between built and natural environments, enabling future
architects to mitigate climate change responsibly by leveraging ecological, advanced building
performance, adaptation, and resilience principles in their work and advocacy activities.
PC.4 History and Theory—How the program ensures that students understand the histories and
theories of architecture and urbanism, framed by diverse social, cultural, economic, and political
forces, nationally and globally.
PC.5 Research and Innovation—How the program prepares students to engage and
participate in architectural research to test and evaluate innovations in the field.
PC.6 Leadership and Collaboration—How the program ensures that students understand
approaches to leadership in multidisciplinary teams, diverse stakeholder constituents, and
dynamic physical and social contexts, and learn how to apply effective collaboration skills to solve
complex problems.
PC.7 Learning and Teaching Culture—How the program fosters and ensures a positive and
respectful environment that encourages optimism, respect, sharing, engagement, and innovation
among its faculty, students, administration, and staff.
PC.8 Social Equity and Inclusion—How the program furthers and deepens students'
understanding of diverse cultural and social contexts and helps them translate that understanding
into built environments that equitably support and include people of different backgrounds,
resources, and abilities.

The following (from the 2020 Procedures, section 3.5.1) describes the types of evidence
required for the assessment of PC:
Primary Evidence for Program Criteria (PC). The program will submit the primary exhibits as
evidence for PC to the visiting team in an electronic format 45 days before the visit.
Program Criteria should be evaluated holistically relative to curricular and extracurricular offerings
and the students’ experience of them. The program must provide a narrative description of how the
program achieves each criterion. The program must also provide evidence that each criterion is
assessed by the program on a recurring basis, and must summarize the modifications made to its
curricula and/or associated program structures and materials based on findings from these
assessment activities since the previous review.
Supporting Materials: The program must provide supporting materials demonstrating that its
objectives have been accomplished. These may include policy documents, individual course
materials (e.g., syllabi) as well as documentation of activities occurring outside specific courses.

2
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

3.2 Student Criteria (SC): Student Learning Objectives and Outcomes

A program must demonstrate how it addresses the following criteria through program curricula and
other experiences, with an emphasis on the articulation of learning objectives and assessment.

SC.1 Health, Safety, and Welfare in the Built Environment—How the program ensures that
students understand the impact of the built environment on human health, safety, and welfare at
multiple scales, from buildings to cities.
SC.2 Professional Practice—How the program ensures that students understand professional
ethics, the regulatory requirements, the fundamental business processes relevant to architecture
practice in the United States, and the forces influencing change in these subjects.
SC.3 Regulatory Context—How the program ensures that students understand the fundamental
principles of life safety, land use, and current laws and regulations that apply to buildings and
sites in the United States, and the evaluative process architects use to comply with those laws
and regulations as part of a project.
SC.4 Technical Knowledge—How the program ensures that students understand the
established and emerging systems, technologies, and assemblies of building construction, and
the methods and criteria architects use to assess those technologies against the design,
economics, and performance objectives of projects.

The following (from the 2020 Procedures, section 3.5.2) describes the types of evidence
required for the assessment of SC.1 through SC.4:
Primary Evidence for Student Criteria (SC) SC.1 through SC.4. These criteria will be evaluated
at the understanding level. The program will submit the primary exhibits as evidence for SC.1-4 to
the visiting team in an electronic format 45 days before the visit. Programs must provide the
following:
Narrative: A narrative description of how the program achieves and evaluates each criterion.
Self-Assessment: Evidence that each student learning outcome associated with these criteria is
developed and assessed by the program on a recurring basis, with a summary of the modifications
the program has made to its curricula and/or individual courses based on findings from its
assessments since the previous review.
Supporting Materials: Supporting materials demonstrating how the program accomplishes its
objectives related to each criterion. Organize the supporting exhibits in the format specified by the
NAAB and include the following for each course associated with the student learning outcome:
a) Course Syllabus. The syllabus must clearly articulate student learning outcome objectives
for the course, the methods of assessment (e.g., tests, project assignments), and the
relative weight of each assessment tool used by the instructor(s) to determine student
performance.
b) Course Schedule. The schedule must clearly articulate the topics covered in the class and
the amount of time devoted to each course subtopic.
c) Instructional Materials. The supporting materials must clearly illustrate the instructional
materials used in the course. These may include a summary of required readings, lecture
materials, field trips, workshop descriptions, and other materials used in the course to
achieve the intended learning outcomes.

3
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

SC.5 Design Synthesis—How the program ensures that students develop the ability to make
design decisions within architectural projects while demonstrating synthesis of user requirements,
regulatory requirements, site conditions, and accessible design, and consideration of the
measurable environmental impacts of their design decisions.
SC.6 Building Integration—How the program ensures that students develop the ability to make
design decisions within architectural projects while demonstrating integration of building envelope
systems and assemblies, structural systems, environmental control systems, life safety systems,
and the measurable outcomes of building performance.

The following (from the 2020 Procedures, section 3.5.3) describes the types of evidence
required for the assessment of SC.5 and SC.6:
Primary Evidence for SC.5 and SC.6. These criteria will be evaluated at the ability level. Programs
may design their curricula to satisfy these criteria via a single course or a combination of courses.
Evidence supplied for these required courses is provided in the team room and include fully labeled
exhibits of student work from each course section. Programs must provide the following:
Narrative: A narrative description of how the program achieves and evaluates each criterion.
Self-Assessment: Evidence that each student learning outcome associated with these criteria is
developed and assessed by the program on a recurring basis, with a summary of the modifications
the program has made to its curricula and/or individual courses based on findings from its
assessments since the previous review. If the program accomplishes these criteria in more than one
course, it must demonstrate that it coordinates the assessment of these criteria across those
courses.
Supporting Materials: Supporting materials demonstrating how the program accomplishes its
objectives related to each criterion. Organize the supporting exhibits in the format specified by the
NAAB and include the following for each course associated with the student learning outcome:
a) Course Syllabus. The syllabus must clearly articulate student learning outcome objectives
for the course, the methods of assessment (e.g., tests, project assignments), and the
relative weight of each assessment tool used by the instructor(s) to determine student
performance.
b) Course Schedule. The schedule must clearly articulate the topics covered in the class and
the amount of time devoted to each course subtopic.
c) Instructional Materials. The exhibits must clearly illustrate the instructional materials used
in the course. These may include a summary of required readings, lecture materials, field
trips, workshop descriptions, and other materials used in the course to achieve the intended
learning outcomes.
Student Work Examples: The program must collect all passing student work produced for the
course(s) in which the learning outcomes associated with this criterion are achieved within one year
before the visit, or the full academic cycle in which the courses are offered. The visiting team will
evaluate approximately 20 percent (no less than three, no more than thirty examples) of the student
work collected in this time frame, selected by the NAAB at random before the visit. The program
may self-select additional student work, up to 10 percent, for the visiting team to review.
If several courses are used to satisfy the SC, the class lists from each course must be aligned so
that a random selection process will collect the work of each student selected in all classes that are
used to meet the SC. The student lists provided must comply with FERPA rules.

4
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

4—Curricular Framework
This condition addresses the institution’s regional accreditation and the program’s degree nomenclature,
credit-hour and curricular requirements, and the process used to evaluate student preparatory work.

4.1 Institutional Accreditation

For the NAAB to accredit a professional degree program in architecture, the program must be, or be
part of, an institution accredited by one of the following U.S. regional institutional accrediting agencies
for higher education:
 Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
 Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
 New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE)
 Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
 Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU)
 WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)

4.2 Professional Degrees and Curriculum

The NAAB accredits professional degree programs with the following titles: the Bachelor of Architecture
(B. Arch.), the Master of Architecture (M. Arch.), and the Doctor of Architecture (D. Arch.). The
curricular requirements for awarding these degrees must include professional studies, general studies,
and optional studies.
4.2.1 Professional Studies. Courses with architectural content required of all students in the
NAAB-accredited program are the core of a professional degree program that leads to
licensure. Knowledge from these courses is used to satisfy Condition 3—Program and Student
Criteria. The degree program has the flexibility to add additional professional studies courses
to address its mission or institutional context. In its documentation, the program must clearly
indicate which professional courses are required for all students.
4.2.2 General Studies. An important component of architecture education, general studies provide
basic knowledge and methodologies of the humanities, fine arts, mathematics, natural
sciences, and social sciences. Programs must document how students earning an accredited
degree achieve a broad, interdisciplinary understanding of human knowledge.
In most cases, the general studies requirement can be satisfied by the general education
program of an institution’s baccalaureate degree. Graduate programs must describe and
document the criteria and process used to evaluate applicants’ prior academic experience
relative to this requirement. Programs accepting transfers from other institutions must
document the criteria and process used to ensure that the general education requirement was
covered at another institution.
4.2.3 Optional Studies. All professional degree programs must provide sufficient flexibility in the
curriculum to allow students to develop additional expertise, either by taking additional courses
offered in other academic units or departments, or by taking courses offered within the
department offering the accredited program but outside the required professional studies
curriculum. These courses may be configured in a variety of curricular structures, including
elective offerings, concentrations, certificate programs, and minors.

5
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

NAAB-accredited professional degree programs have the exclusive right to use the B. Arch., M. Arch.,
and/or D. Arch. titles, which are recognized by the public as accredited degrees and therefore may not
be used by non-accredited programs.
The number of credit hours for each degree is outlined below. All accredited programs must conform to
minimum credit-hour requirements established by the institution’s regional accreditor.
4.2.4 Bachelor of Architecture. The B. Arch. degree consists of a minimum of 150 semester credit
hours, or the quarter-hour equivalent, in academic coursework in general studies, professional
studies, and optional studies, all of which are delivered or accounted for (either by transfer or
articulation) by the institution that will grant the degree. Programs must document the required
professional studies courses (course numbers, titles, and credits), the elective professional
studies courses (course numbers, titles, and credits), the required number of credits for
general studies and for optional studies, and the total number of credits for the degree.
4.2.5 Master of Architecture. The M. Arch. degree consists of a minimum of 168 semester credit
hours, or the quarter-hour equivalent, of combined undergraduate coursework and a minimum
of 30 semester credits of graduate coursework. Programs must document the required
professional studies classes (course numbers, titles, and credits), the elective professional
studies classes (course numbers, titles, and credits), the required number of credits for
general studies and for optional studies, and the total number of credits for both the
undergraduate and graduate degrees.
4.2.6 Doctor of Architecture. The D. Arch. degree consists of a minimum of 210 credits, or the
quarter-hour equivalent, of combined undergraduate and graduate coursework. The D. Arch.
requires a minimum of 90 graduate-level semester credit hours, or the graduate-level 135
quarter-hour equivalent, in academic coursework in professional studies and optional studies.
Programs must document, for both undergraduate and graduate degrees, the required
professional studies classes (course numbers, titles, and credits), the elective professional
studies classes (course numbers, titles, and credits), the required number of credits for
general studies and for optional studies, and the total number of credits for the degree.

4.3 Evaluation of Preparatory Education

The NAAB recognizes that students transferring to an undergraduate accredited program or entering a
graduate accredited program come from different types of programs and have different needs,
aptitudes, and knowledge bases. In this condition, a program must demonstrate that it utilizes a
thorough and equitable process to evaluate incoming students and that it documents the accreditation
criteria it expects students to have met in their education experiences in non-accredited programs.
4.3.1 A program must document its process for evaluating a student’s prior academic coursework
related to satisfying NAAB accreditation criteria when it admits a student to the professional
degree program.
4.3.2 In the event a program relies on the preparatory education experience to ensure that admitted
students have met certain accreditation criteria, the program must demonstrate it has
established standards for ensuring these accreditation criteria are met and for determining
whether any gaps exist.
4.3.3 A program must demonstrate that it has clearly articulated the evaluation of baccalaureate-
degree or associate-degree content in the admissions process, and that a candidate
understands the evaluation process and its implications for the length of a professional degree
program before accepting an offer of admission.

6
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

5—Resources
5.1 Structure and Governance
The program must describe the administrative and governance processes that provide for
organizational continuity, clarity, and fairness and allow for improvement and change.
5.1.1 Administrative Structure: Describe the administrative structure and identify key personnel in
the program and school, college, and institution.
5.1.2 Governance: Describe the role of faculty, staff, and students in both program and institutional
governance structures and how these structures relate to the governance structures of the
academic unit and the institution.

5.2 Planning and Assessment

The program must demonstrate that it has a planning process for continuous improvement that
identifies:
5.2.1 The program’s multiyear strategic objectives, including the requirement to meet the NAAB
Conditions, as part of the larger institutional strategic planning and assessment efforts.
5.2.2 Key performance indicators used by the unit and the institution.
5.2.3 How well the program is progressing toward its mission and stated multiyear objectives.
5.2.4 Strengths, challenges, and opportunities faced by the program as it strives to continuously
improve learning outcomes and opportunities.
5.2.5 Ongoing outside input from others, including practitioners.
The program must also demonstrate that it regularly uses the results of self-assessments to advise and
encourage changes and adjustments that promote student and faculty success.

5.3 Curricular Development

The program must demonstrate a well-reasoned process for assessing its curriculum and making
adjustments based on the outcome of the assessment. The program must identify:
5.3.1 The relationship between course assessment and curricular development, including NAAB
program and student criteria.
5.3.2 The roles and responsibilities of the personnel and committees involved in setting curricular
agendas and initiatives, including the curriculum committee, program coordinators, and
department chairs or directors.

5.4 Human Resources and Human Resource Development

The program must demonstrate that it has appropriate and adequately funded human resources to
support student learning and achievement. Human resources include full- and part-time instructional
faculty, administrative leadership, and technical, administrative, and other support staff. The program
must:
5.4.1 Demonstrate that it balances the workloads of all faculty in a way that promotes student and
faculty achievement.
5.4.2 Demonstrate that it has an Architect Licensing Advisor who is actively performing the duties
defined in the NCARB position description. These duties include attending the biannual
NCARB Licensing Advisor Summit and/or other training opportunities to stay up-to-date on the
requirements for licensure and ensure that students have resources to make informed
decisions on their path to licensure.
5.4.3 Demonstrate that faculty and staff have opportunities to pursue professional development that
contributes to program improvement.

7
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

5.4.4 Describe the support services available to students in the program, including but not limited to
academic and personal advising, mental well-being, career guidance, internship, and job
placement.

5.5 Social Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

The program must demonstrate its commitment to diversity and inclusion among current and
prospective faculty, staff, and students. The program must:
5.5.1 Describe how this commitment is reflected in the distribution of its human, physical, and
financial resources.
5.5.2 Describe its plan for maintaining or increasing the diversity of its faculty and staff since the last
accreditation cycle, how it has implemented the plan, and what it intends to do during the next
accreditation cycle. Also, compare the program’s faculty and staff demographics with that of
the program’s students and other benchmarks the program deems relevant.
5.5.3 Describe its plan for maintaining or increasing the diversity of its students since the last
accreditation cycle, how it has implemented the plan, and what it intends to do during the next
accreditation cycle. Also, compare the program’s student demographics with that of the
institution and other benchmarks the program deems relevant.
5.5.4 Document what institutional, college, or program policies are in place to further Equal
Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action (EEO/AA), as well as any other social equity,
diversity, and inclusion initiatives at the program, college, or institutional level.
5.5.5 Describe the resources and procedures in place to provide adaptive environments and
effective strategies to support faculty, staff, and students with different physical and/or mental
abilities.

5.6 Physical Resources

The program must describe its physical resources and demonstrate how they safely and equitably
support the program’s pedagogical approach and student and faculty achievement. Physical resources
include but are not limited to the following:
5.6.1 Space to support and encourage studio-based learning.
5.6.2 Space to support and encourage didactic and interactive learning, including lecture halls,
seminar spaces, small group study rooms, labs, shops, and equipment.
5.6.3 Space to support and encourage the full range of faculty roles and responsibilities, including
preparation for teaching, research, mentoring, and student advising.
5.6.4 Resources to support all learning formats and pedagogies in use by the program.
If the program’s pedagogy does not require some or all of the above physical resources, the program
must describe the effect (if any) that online, off-site, or hybrid formats have on digital and physical
resources.

5.7 Financial Resources

The program must demonstrate that it has the appropriate institutional support and financial resources
to support student learning and achievement during the next term of accreditation.

5.8 Information Resources

The program must demonstrate that all students, faculty, and staff have convenient and equitable
access to architecture literature and information, as well as appropriate visual and digital resources that
support professional education in architecture.
Further, the program must demonstrate that all students, faculty, and staff have access to architecture
librarians and visual resource professionals who provide discipline-relevant information services that
support teaching and research.

8
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

6—Public Information
The NAAB expects accredited degree programs to provide information to the public about accreditation
activities and the relationship between the program and the NAAB, admissions and advising, and career
information, as well as accurate public information about accredited and non-accredited architecture
programs. The NAAB expects programs to be transparent and accountable in the information provided to
students, faculty, and the public. As a result, all NAAB-accredited programs are required to ensure that
the following information is posted online and is easily available to the public.

6.1 Statement on NAAB-Accredited Degrees

All institutions offering a NAAB-accredited degree program or any candidacy program must include the
exact language found in the NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition, Appendix 2, in catalogs
and promotional media, including the program’s website.

6.2 Access to NAAB Conditions and Procedures

The program must make the following documents available to all students, faculty, and the public, via
the program’s website:
a) Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
b) Conditions for Accreditation in effect at the time of the last visit (2009 or 2014, depending on
the date of the last visit)
c) Procedures for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
d) Procedures for Accreditation in effect at the time of the last visit (2012 or 2015, depending on
the date of the last visit)

6.3 Access to Career Development Information

The program must demonstrate that students and graduates have access to career development and
placement services that help them develop, evaluate, and implement career, education, and
employment plans.

6.4 Public Access to Accreditation Reports and Related Documents

To promote transparency in the process of accreditation in architecture education, the program must
make the following documents available to all students, faculty, and the public, via the program’s
website:
a) All Interim Progress Reports and narratives of Program Annual Reports submitted since the
last team visit
b) All NAAB responses to any Plan to Correct and any NAAB responses to the Program Annual
Reports since the last team visit
c) The most recent decision letter from the NAAB
d) The Architecture Program Report submitted for the last visit
e) The final edition of the most recent Visiting Team Report, including attachments and addenda
f) The program’s optional response to the Visiting Team Report
g) Plan to Correct (if applicable)
h) NCARB ARE pass rates
i) Statements and/or policies on learning and teaching culture
j) Statements and/or policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion

9
 NAAB Conditions for Accreditation, 2020 Edition
February 10, 2020

6.5 Admissions and Advising

The program must publicly document all policies and procedures that govern the evaluation of
applicants for admission to the accredited program. These procedures must include first-time, first-year
students as well as transfers from within and outside the institution. This documentation must include
the following:
a) Application forms and instructions
b) Admissions requirements; admissions-decisions procedures, including policies and processes
for evaluation of transcripts and portfolios (when required); and decisions regarding
remediation and advanced standing
c) Forms and a description of the process for evaluating the content of a non-accredited degrees
d) Requirements and forms for applying for financial aid and scholarships
e) Explanation of how student diversity goals affect admission procedures

6.6 Student Financial Information

6.6.1 The program must demonstrate that students have access to current resources and advice for
making decisions about financial aid.
6.6.2 The program must demonstrate that students have access to an initial estimate for all tuition,
fees, books, general supplies, and specialized materials that may be required during the full
course of study for completing the NAAB-accredited degree program.

10
Appendix 1—Statement on Changes to the NAAB Conditions and Procedures for
Accreditation

Changes to the Conditions for Accreditation and the Procedures for Accreditation are outlined in Section
6.2 of the NAAB Policy Manual. That section is referenced below for information:

Section 6.2 Changes to the NAAB Conditions and Procedures

The NAAB’s Conditions and Procedure have been revised several times over the years. These revisions
reflect the NAAB’s commitment to continuous improvement by allowing programs the flexibility to adapt to
a dynamic context. The three review types are:

1. Annually: The NAAB Conditions and Procedures are reviewed annually by the NAAB’s
Assessment and Evaluation Committee for nonsubstantive changes that do not modify the prior
meaning of a criterion and are normally intended to improve clarity, structural consistency, format,
or grammar and syntax. The A+E Committee shall propose changes to the NAAB board for
approval. Nonsubstantive revisions approved for implementation will be included in the
Conditions or Procedures for the next visit cycle.
2. Periodically: The NAAB Conditions and Procedures are reviewed periodically by the A+E
Committee for substantive changes. Substantive changes are defined as the addition of a new
criterion or a revision to an existing criterion that modifies its prior meaning. For substantive
changes, the A+E Committee shall recommend a suitable review and comment period and an
appropriate implementation plan to be approved by the NAAB board. Final approval of any
substantive change rests with the NAAB board.
3. Accreditation Review Forum: Every eight years, the NAAB Board of Directors will invite its
collateral partners (ACSA, AIA, AIAS, and NCARB) to participate in a process of assessment,
research, analysis, and review of the current Conditions and Procedures. The process will be
designed to engage participants in substantive conversations on the future of architecture
education in order to identify changes in the Conditions and Procedures that will promote
excellence and innovation in architecture education.

11
Appendix 2—Statement on NAAB-Accredited Degrees
The following statement must be included, in its entirety, in the catalogs and promotional materials,
including the program’s website, of all accredited programs and candidate programs.
“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.”
That text must be followed by this information about each NAAB-accredited program:
[name of university, name of academic unit] offers the following NAAB-accredited
degree program(s) (If an institution offers more than one track for an M. Arch. or D.
Arch. based on the type of undergraduate/preparatory education required, please list
all tracks separately):
[name of degree] (prerequisite + total number of credits required)
In addition, the program must publish the year of the next accreditation visit for each
accredited program.
Programs that have been granted candidacy status must also include the following in its entirety:
“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.”
That text must be followed by this information about each candidate program:
[name of university, name of academic unit] was granted candidacy status for the
following professional degree program(s) in architecture:
[name of degree] [prerequisite + total number of credits required]
Year candidacy awarded: [year]
Next visit: Continuation of Candidacy, [year] or Initial Accreditation, [year]
Projected year to achieve initial accreditation: [year]
Earliest graduation date projected to meet NCARB education requirement: [year]

12