As this is a new rule implemented this year, anyone who registered before 1 Jan 2017 is not affected. They are still covered by the old automatic accreditation list, regardless when they graduate (including if they extend their studies, but does not include continuing to M.Arch).

The new list is being rebuilt. Abolished were the automatic accreditation part. So now we are validating each school individually by sending representatives from LAM to those schools.

Once validated, these schools will appear on the list. Its a thorough and rigorous process, but now any schools can apply regardless of their system. Meaning American schools that were never accredited before can now be included as well. So will Japanese, Korean, Chinese, European or wherever Malaysians tend to flock to.

math is important. but not everything. trigonometry is useful as it allows u to quickly resolve geometrical problems. but not every problem in architecture is geometrical. being good at geometry helps. but not being good at it isnt really that big an issue.

as far as architecture is concerned, we only need form 4 maths.

yes, they would have to. it's totally voluntary. there will be a fee charged by LAM in order to send our validators to inspect their school. so it wont be by our tax payer's money, if anyone's worried about that .

for top schools, i dont think it matters to them. but malaysia has the 3rd largest citizen studying abroad in the world, after china and india. and a large number of it are paid by government sponsorship or loan.

these sponsors will only send students to accredited schools. so they look to our respective bodies/boards in each profession to determine which schools are accredited, which are not. for medicine we have KKM, and for architecture we have LAM. do note that MQA can only accredit local programmes, and when it comes to professional courses such as architecture, LAM has higher jurisdiction than MQA.

so to put it simply:

LAM Validation = more Malaysian students studying there = more money

banyak sangat ke student malaysia belajar architecture luar negara?

good question. Curtin (australia) has over 100 malaysian students studying architecture. IN ONE SCHOOL. if an international fee is AUD10k, that's AUD1mil a year gone (if without accreditation).

i cant say for UK schools, but we are currently negotiating something with australian schools, melbourne included.

the whole point of validating and overseas programme is not for us to judge or rank their schools compared to us. that's not what LAM is doing. LAM is concerned about the criteria that each graduate possesses when they come back here to practice.

in the past, many students "escaped" without having fulfilled the base requirements simply because the previous school was granted "automatic accreditation". while others who came from unaccredited schools do possess them, yet could not register.

so when we validate a school, we share with the school: hey, here's a list of things we need. it would be helpful if u can ensure malaysian students studying in your school to meet these criteria.

and the criteria arent exactly unique to malaysia. we deliberately geared our criteria so that it could fit on any developing and/or tropical countries (including laws and regulations). there are no standards that evaluate and verify schools regarding to these criteria, and we have the opportunity to be the standard. that's what RIBA's been doing, but their criteria is geared towards their needs. there's the other half of the world that requires different standards.

anyways, LAM is not bothered if the schools dont want to be validated by LAM. most of those schools have a small number of malaysians anyway. when i was in bartlett, there were like 7 of us, and 5 are postgraduates. but for them, if the programme is accredited by their own local authority (such as ARB), they can come back and sit for the LAM parts 1 & 2 exams. so that path is still open. just dont expect any government sponsorships to go there if its not validated by LAM. tu aje.

Congrats! UM is a great school with plenty to offer. Im sure her journey will be colourful and she should take advantage of the facilities. From what gather in LAM meetings, UM now has one of the best facilities for architecture in Malaysia.

All architecture programmes in Malaysia are highly regulated by LAM. As long as your brother graduates from an accredited programme, he should be able to continue his masters anywhere in the world that follows the British two-tier format.

There have been many who took Malaysian-degree + overseas-masters before, since the 80s. So as u can, it is a very common path to take because its cheaper and u still graduate with an overseas masters (usually ppl look at the highest qualification).

As far as i know, we dont have a salary guide. At part 2 with 2 years experience, I would say around RM2.7k-RM3.2k.

As far as i know, we dont have a salary guide. At part 2 with 2 years experience, I would say around RM2.7k-RM3.2k.

work placement is usually not a big issue as the demand is still quite decent and LAM is quite liberal in allowing new graduates to work while sorting out their LAM part 1 licenses. usually it would take between 3-6 months from application till passing of the exam.

unfortunately, the 6 months minimum working requirement only starts after you've obtained ur LAM part 1, not the day you graduate.

what is the nature of the full-time job at night? if it's just jaga FB page for online sales, that's not a problem.

thing is, architecture is pretty demanding in terms of time. the load can be dealt with, but time is an issue. usually students use the long stretch of uninterrupted time at night to work. no classes, no lunch breaks, no solat breaks etc. just full on 6-8 hours solid work.

if u're working full-time at night, and study full-time during the day, i'm not sure when u're suppose to rest and do stuffs .

BTW, the nature of full-time studies in Malaysia requires u to NOT work full-time. part-time no problem. schools have the right to terminate u if u work full-time while engaged in a full-time studies.


This post has been edited by azarimy: Feb 2 2018, 09:39 PM

hi, sorry for the late reply.

where did you obtain your advanced diploma from? i can help you plot how for do you still have to go if you plan to venture back into architecture and become a professional architect.

then we can weigh whether it's worth it compared to QS or just maintain your current degree.

Mostly geometry. Others are just simple physics equation and rule of thumb resolutions. In my opinion, architects often need up to form 4 maths.

Hello there. Sorry for the late reply.

In architecture, there is no such thing as late. Many famous architects started late, but they are entirely driven by their passion and eventually flourish. 30 is still young. I've had students nearing 40 when they started their degree.

Anyways, apart from architecture, you can venture in interior design or landscape design (which also needs a degree). But if you're really passionate about architecture, they might not be enough to satisfy you. Heck, even part 1 degree probably will not satisfy you either, as it will only allow you to become assistant architect - with little power to call the shots.

You want to design? Part 2 is what you should be after. Again, absolutely no wrong in starting late. Design requires maturity. Most of our fresh grads lacks them pretty much.

taylor's is already well established, while UTAR is one of the fastest rising IPTS for architecture. u cant go wrong with either of the two.

In most situations, not much difference between the two. At most, look for active MoUs (Momerandum of Understanding) between Taylors/UTAR and the target university u planning to study M.Arch.

MoUs usually dictates some form of collaboration between the schools. It ia something u can take advantage of, especially when considering yo further study or expand ur prospects.

U can find this information in their websites. MoUs are something schools are proud of, and will actively advertise it to the public.

Last year I went to Strathclyde, Glasgow, and there were about 30 Malaysians studying architecture and many of them were from Taylor's. If you go to other universities, u will find flocks of UiTM in one place, UTM in another, UTAR in the other and so on.

hi there. what they say is generally true: interview is a tricky business, and no matter how desperate you are in getting a place and wanting the best chance to get one, the schools are playing the same game too. they want the best students to join their programme and would do anything they can about it.

this includes calling only those who've chosen them as 1st choice. let me explain the logic:

lets say a school calls 2 candidates.
candidate A: 3.70cgpa, puts them as 1st choice.
candidate B: 4.00cgpa, puts them as 2nd choice.

logic would dictate that candidate B will get the offer, yes? well, usually that's true. however, let's look at candidates B's 1st choice. huge chance that they'll get that offer too. and of course, they've put that as 1st choice, most likely they'll go there too.

so the top spot reserved for candidate B is now vacant. the school will try to reach candidate A. and usually by this time, candidate A would have taken the offer from his 2nd or 3rd choice. now the school needs to dig really deep into the candidate pool, and eventually settles with a 3.00 candidate who didnt get any other offers.

you can see the predicament here. if the school tries to gamble to get a 4.00 2nd choice candidate, there's a big chance they will lose all other potential candidates in the process, including the top one just now. so it is safer for them to just secure candidate A for certain, as there will not be any other offer higher than theirs.

so now it boils down to which one do you prefer the most? UTM or UM? yes, these are among the top 100 architecture schools in the world. u cant go wrong with any of them. so now the question would be: do u like city life in KL? choose UM. or do u prefer laid back sub-urban living in Johor? choose UTM. and so on and so forth. good luck!

eRayuan only works if u've fulfilled all requirements but didnt get the offer u want. it cannot boost ur application if u do not meet the requirements.

if you're still interested to study architecture straight from SPM, then i suggest diploma. UiTM is the only programme that circumvents the SPM->degree requirements. the rest have to go through matrics, STPM, a-levels or other pre-unis.

at the end of the day, it's the destination that matters. you need M.Arch to practice as an architect in malaysia. before that, a B.Sc.Arch (or equivalent) to qualify for M.Arch. And to take B.Sc.Arch, you can either go through pre-uni path, or diploma path. up to you.

1. Accreditation is only valid if you graduate within the specified period. If you graduated 1 day before or after that period, you will not be accredited. Even if you joined during the accredited period, and for some reason the school's accreditation was withdrawn or expired, or if you extended your studies into a period that it was not accredited, you will not be accredited as well.

2. Yes. You can sit for LAM Parts 1 and 2 exams when you return here, regardless whether you hold an AACA accreditation or not.

MRA is between the board and its foreign counterpart. As the boards are the official regulatory body from the respective countries, it's effect is the same as MRA between countries.

That is referring to the implementation date of the new Accreditation List effective 1 Jan 2017 (last year). Meaning those who were currently enrolled in the programme at the time are not affected by the new rulings, regardless when they graduate.

Since that date has come and passed, that statement no longer applies to new enrollments.

Nowadays, there are plenty of good reference for the schools to choose from. Even the accreditation standards have been outlined clearly by LAM. It should be no problem for the school to abide by the standards and achieve accreditation. Most schools that do not have accreditation at the moment are running a new programme and have to wait for their 1st batch to graduate. After that, it should be no problem. So you can enroll into these new programmes with little issues. The biggest issue I would imagine is sponsorship, if any.

Having said that, there are programmes that are struggling to achieve accreditation despite several attempts. These are the ones you should be careful of. It signifies that there are shortcomings in the programme that couldnt be addressed in time.

It means that if you come from these schools, you might not be well prepared to sit for the LAM Parts 1 or 2 exams. Usually students fail the exam because they are not well prepared. This can be addressed if the school, despite the lack of accreditation, prepares them well before hand.

So bottom line is, there are two types of unaccredited schools, and I dont have any problem recommending the new programmes. It's the old, struggling programmes that you should stay away from.

As for the exam itself, it's no different that a graduating viva voce.

Updated the Paths to Becoming an Architect and its abbreviations on the 1st page. Information valid and verified by LAM and representatives of each IPT involved.