International Certification

Volunteer with NAAB ICert

Peer review is key to NAAB’s International Certification (ICert) process and is utilized to evaluate a program’s compliance with the Conditions for NAAB International Certification. Architecture educators, practitioners, and students/recent graduates can contribute to this process by volunteering to serve as members of ICert visiting teams that travel internationally, to review professional programs in architecture seeking or reaffirming NAAB International Certification team. If you are interested in serving as an ICert visiting team member, please review the information below, and submit a NAAB ICert Visiting Team Member Nomination Form.

For questions about volunteer opportunities, please email international@naab.org.

Volunteer group at table

Call for Nominations for NAAB ICert Visiting Team Members

The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB) seeks nominations for its pool of ICert visiting team members to support the Board of Directors in providing quality assurance to international architecture programs.

Why Become an ICert Visiting Team Member?

NAAB ICert visiting team members are a vital part of the international certification process, serving as the eyes and ears of NAAB’s Board of Directors. The evaluation teams visit and conduct a review of the program based on the Conditions for NAAB International Certification and complete the Visiting Team Report (VTR). ICert visits typically are conducted over a three-to-four-day period, utilizing teams that consist of four to five members representing the educator, practitioner, and student/recent graduate perspectives of professional architectural education.

Through their participation in the international certification process, NAAB ICert visiting team members have the opportunity to:
  • Develop and cultivate new professional relationships with educators, practitioners, and students/recent graduates.
  • Gain access to NAAB’s online community of ICert visiting team members to share experience and expertise related to site visits.
  • Observe the creative, diverse, and innovative ways that professional architecture programs abroad are preparing the next generation of architects.
  • Gain insight into how the field of architecture is developing.
  • Visit programs seeking international certification abroad.
  • Give back to the colleges and universities that provided you with the opportunity to study architecture and the profession in which you practice.
  • Serve current and future students by ensuring that their programs meet the requirements that the profession has determined are essential to quality architectural education.
  • Grow professionally.

NAAB Procedures for International Certification require ICert visiting teams to be composed of individuals who represent one or more of three areas of expertise to provide a diversity of perspectives on professional architectural education.
 
Educator:
A person who is employed on a full-time basis as an educator or with full-time employment within the past five years as an educator in an architecture program that holds NAAB international certification or accreditation. This employment should include service responsibilities to the program.
If applying for renewal of a term of service, evaluations of past team service are positive.
 
Practitioner:
A person with more than five years of experience as a licensed architect.
If applying for renewal of a term of service, evaluations of past team service are positive.
 
Student/Recent Graduate:
A current student enrolled in an architecture degree program holding the International Certification designation or a NAAB-accredited B.Arch., M.Arch., or D.Arch. program advanced in their architectural studies. Current upper-level students intending to complete their pre-professional degrees as part of a NAAB-accredited M.Arch. program are also eligible.
 
A graduate of an architecture program holding the International Certification designation or a NAAB-accredited B.Arch., M.Arch., or D.Arch. within the past five years.

If applying for renewal of a term of service, evaluations of past team service are positive.

NAAB ICert visiting team members are required to commit to the following responsibilities:
  • Commit to a four academic-year term.
  • Complete NAAB’s required online, on-demand ICert visiting team member training modules prior to being assigned to a visiting team.
  • Be willing to participate in at least one visit per year.
  • Complete required ICert visiting team member training updates.
  • Serve as an ICert visiting team chair once requirements have been met.
  • Once assigned to an ICert visiting team, fulfill all responsibilities described in the NAAB Procedures for International Certification.
  • Follow all applicable NAAB policies and procedures.

NAAB accepts applications for ICert visiting team members on a rolling basis throughout the year. ICert visiting team members travel to college and university campuses abroad to conduct international certification reviews on behalf of the NAAB for undergraduate and graduate professional education programs in architecture. Four-year terms are renewable.
 
The ICert visiting team member nomination form requests the following information:
  • Name, home address, preferred phone, preferred email address.
  • Professional information: job title, employer name, employer address, professional website (e.g. LinkedIn, other), resumé or CV, and preferred post-nominal credentials (e.g., AIA, ARB, JIA, RIBA, UIA, etc.).
  • Education, licensure/certifications.
  • Race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability status, languages spoken.
  • Role, with qualifications for that role.
  • Experience as a visiting team member with NAAB, if any.
  • Statement of interest and availability for serving on ICert visit teams.

Received nominations will be reviewed by NAAB staff, and eligible nominees will be added to the NAAB pool of ICert Visiting Team Members.

NAAB and International Certification

NAAB established its International Certification (ICert) in 2003. The program was formerly known as Substantial Equivalency. This designation is offered to architecture programs around the world that are interested in receiving a quality assurance credential from an internationally recognized U.S. organization. International Certification is a peer-review process by which professional degree programs communicate their value to stakeholders demonstrate compliance with the NAAB International Certification criteria for student learning, resources, facilities, student services, and public information.
 
NAAB International Certification does not require that the institution offers the degree program has U.S. institutional accreditation however, it does require that the institution offering the internationally certified degree program must be or be part of an institution that has been duly authorized to offer higher education in the country in which it is located.
 
NAAB requires a self-assessment by the international certification program and an evaluation of that assessment by 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 international certification.
 
ICert Visiting Team Members
ICert visiting team members contribute their time, expertise, and passion for excellence in architectural education but are reimbursed for all travel, meal, and local transportation expenses related to their service on an ICert visit. Visiting teams are required to evaluate, before and during the ICert visit, the program's compliance with NAAB Conditions for International Certification and complete the Visiting Team Report (VTR) with the team’s evaluation during the ICert visit.
 
ICert visiting teams consist of three to four voting members (including the team chair), depending on the type of international certification visit and as outlined in the NAAB Procedures for International Certification.
 
The ICert Visit Schedule 
ICert visiting team members will be expected to meet with their team in a virtual format and begin their review of international certification documents accessed through a shared drive no later than 60 days before the ICert visit. ICert visits are typically conducted in the spring, from March through May, and in the fall, from September through November. A typical site visit starts on Sunday evening with team introductions and orientation and ends on Wednesday.
 
Participating in the ICert Visit
During the ICert visit, team members focus on validating the evidence presented in the international certification materials by reviewing selected student work; interviewing faculty, staff, and students; touring the facilities; identifying and exploring concerns that may not have been evident in the materials submitted by the program prior to the visit; and finalizing the Visiting Team Report.

NAAB ICert Programs

Resources

Submit a NAAB ICert Visiting Team Member Nomination Form

Link here