refer to the 1st post in this thread.

foundation is a way to get into the degree programme, but it alone has no value if u wanna apply for work. it is usually offered by a college to entice SPM leavers to go straight for their degree and skip STPM. of course, they want ur money rather than u spending it on A-levels or not spent at all (STPM). it also allows u to immediately focus into the area u would be in, in this case, the built environment.

diploma on the other hand is a professional cert. u can go out and work with it at the basic level. with a diploma, u can skip 1st year of ur degree and go straight to 2nd year. despite diploma taking longer (3 years compared to 1 year foundation), the advantage is u jump straight into architecture (a specialization under built environment). so u dont spend time learning stuffs not directly related to architecture.

foundations are very unlikely recognized by schools outside of those that offer them. let alone in a different country.

for example, limkokwing might not recognize a foundation from taylor's or vice versa. IPTAs do not recognize any foundations at all as an intake into architecture programmes, except UM's asasi sains.

if u plan to study overseas, diploma is a good start. or else, go for A-levels or STPM like everybody else.

that's possible too. in fact, many opt this way as it is easier to get scholarship for postgrad than undergrad, and it's also one year shorter, so less expenses.

any accredited courses would be good enough. LAM have set a high standard that each school has to comply in order to acquire and retain the accreditation status. so UTAR and Taylor's are both accredited, but LKW only has one programme accredited (they have three), so be sure u apply to the correct one.

there are no rules governing recognition of foundation programmes. if taylor's have signed a deal with a partner university overseas that will recognize their foundations, i recommend u take advantage of it.

but deals can go sour very quickly, and this happens all too often. usually it's safer if the deal is done at national level (between governments) than between management of the universities.

their curtin BSc part1 is good though. well, good enough.

why not just go for the top schools directly? 3.00 is good enough to apply to any of those. really, they're not that picky on the intakes. i got 3.00 and did not have any problem getting into bartlett (UCL). belasah aje.

the important thing is, after all the money u'll be spending, can u benefit from it?

of the 5 schools u've chosen, i'd probably put strathclyde on top. the rest i treat with mixed feelings. alternatively, try for nottingham, sheffield or bath, or london schools like AA, bartlett, RCA and so on.

i currently sit in the council of accreditation for architecture education malaysia (CAAEM) under LAM, and am one of the author for the accreditation manual. in the manual, we stipulated graduate attributes for part 1 and 2, which generally outlines what u need to have in order to proceed in the exam.

just because u went through the same syllabus at the same time mean u fulfill all the exact same requirement. it highly depends on the project(s) u attempted. the LAM exam is not a preset questions that u need to answer, but instead it seeks to ensure that graduates fulfill the graduate attributes required. so during the interviews, they will focus on things they lack (or seem to lack). in which case, the examiner probably saw ur friends lacking on certain aspects and decided to drill on those. your examiner on the other hand probably did not see a big deal on those aspects of your design, and focus on something else.

it doesnt matter if ur friends scored higher during their studies, because design evaluation is almost never equal to each other. furthermore, the prospect of "strength outweighs weakness" philosophy is very acceptable and common in UK education. meaning it's okay to lose out on certain aspect of the design if your other aspects are really, really strong.

and finally, i doubt LAM is failing people because they want more money. LAM is a statutory body already fully funded by the government.

as for LAM part 3 exam, yes this year is very low. but the exam question is still standard. LAM part 3 exam is about real-world situations and how you would resolve a situation/predicament based on what you know on practice, legislation, law and everything in between. young people who took the exam probably are too inexperienced to have understood or experienced all sorts of situations covered in the exam (which mere reading sometimes is not enough). and the older people probably are experienced, but do not do enough reading (because they thought they had everything covered already).

i have a colleague who've taken the exam 3 times and failed all of them. there's always something new in the question sets that he did not cover, as the papers are always set to current real world situation. so you always have to be aware of things that go on around you.

simply put, LAM and PAM already organize workshops and classes to sit for part 3. just go for them and make sure you equip yourself with everything that they need.

btw, strathclyde is accredited by LAM (so far). why did u have to sit for the exam? did u do ur part 1 elsewhere?

i doubt it'll make a difference. LAM's board of examiners consist of people who've been in practice for at least 10 years and have had experience with academia through out. some may be stricter, but the bottom passing requirements are the same.



as for your friend, if he has an accredited part 1 from taylor's and went through strathclyde's part 2, i'm not sure why he had to go for portfolio review. he should be able to register straight away by showing his part 2 cert.

UNLESS he's from the unaccredited batch of taylor's. which means he might be failed due to inability to comply with LAM part 1 requirement.

u still have to register through the same process. no difference. we're talking about license to practice here. it's the same if u have drivers license in malaysia, u can only use it for 6 months in the UK before they require u to sit for their own drivers license. yea i know many malaysians drive there illegally, but it's not something people should follow, right?

Regarding accreditation of overseas programmes:

LAM (Lembaga Arkitek Malaysia) have made a decision to revoke all accreditation of overseas architectural programmes.

A grace period will be given to those going abroad by 2017 before full revocation will take effect. It means as long as you enroll to a programme by 31 Dec 2017, your degree will be accredited (according to the current list).

If you've enrolled to an overseas part 1 programme this year (Sept 2014), chances are you'll graduate by summer 2017. You have to enroll to a part 2 programme that same year (probably circumventing the year out requirement, if applicable). When the 2017 enrollment window closes, you will be limited to either doing your part 2 here in Malaysia, or find a new school under the new list that will be released by LAM.

It doesn't matter if you plan to work overseas. But most financial sponsorship (loan, scholarship) still refer to JPA list, which in architecture is determined by LAM's accredited list. When there's no list to talk about, you have to find your own funding.

From now onwards, overseas schools must open their programmes to visitations by LAM in order to get their programmes accredited. Then every 5 years LAM will revisit them again if they wish to retain their accreditation status. You might think, why the heck would overseas schools want to be accredited by mere Malaysians?

Because we are one of the biggest exporters of students in the world. After 2017, no more Malaysian students will go abroad to study architecture due to accreditation limitations. Whichever school that manages to acquire LAM accreditation will now be the sole focus of outbound Malaysian students. That would mean extensive cash flow concentrating their way for at least several years.

So plan ahead, if you want to be an Architect in Malaysia.

This post has been edited by azarimy: Dec 8 2014, 04:19 PM

i dont know. you have to inquire with taylor's.

well, you're partially correct. but there are certain parts where i believe u misunderstood.

without a drivers license, ur 10 years driving experience elsewhere dont mean jack. in fact, some of the things u've learned on malaysian roads are not even applicable in the UK (or vice versa). btw, if u've tried taking UK drivers license, u'll notice the exam book is way more detailed and complex than ours, and heckuvalot harder to pass. trust me, i tried.

for LAM part 2 exam, there's no work experience to be evaluated. LAM part 1 and 2 exams only look at academic works. it's like SPM. whether u take it in form 5 or 10 years after that, the exam will focus on what u learned in school. not what u acquired during work. of course, most of the stuffs overlap anyways, but if u've worked in a firm, u'll know that in almost no instance that u would work on the project ALONE. there's always the boss, and ur subordinate (technician, draughtman etc). but for LAM part 1 and 2, they have to evaluate ur individual skills.

working experience is evaluated at part 3. but parts 1 and 2 is almost exclusively academic. dont worry, this is the international standard. LAM follows bologna accord as well as UIA (union of international architects) standard very closely.

that 10 years experience doesnt count towards part 2. but it does count towards part 3 (assuming u've practiced under a certified architect in a legally registered practice in that particular country). if u think about it, it's not fair that u have 10 years experience compared to a fresh grad, coz very likely they will fail. LAM professional exam is not about who has more experience. it's about the proper qualification at the proper amount.

it's not LAM's sole practice. it's what the international architecture community have decided and agreed as the best practice.

there's the registration process, where people with accredited degrees such as u to just go to LAM and sort themselves out.

then there's the exam, where people WITHOUT accredited degrees such as ur friend to sit and pass before granted part 1 and/or 2 license.

in UTM we have many american graduates. all of which has acquired their own LAM parts 1 and 2 within 3-5 years of returning here as we instructed them on proper procedures. in UTM, u can only teach studio is u have LAM part 2 (or part 1 if u teach 1st and 2nd year). in fact, one of our professor recently took the exam, of which his degree was acquired in 1986. still pass. no problem.

tell ur colleague to sit for the exam. many have done so. it's not a big deal. but passing it opens them to a whole other world.

yes. it's the standard practice all over the world.

have u seen any recognition of prior learning programmes in malaysia? it's where experience accumulated throughout the years are converted into academic credits, which later equals to a diploma, degree or even masters.

the answer would probably be highly unlikely u've seen one.

and there's a reason for that. RPL is only recently introduced in malaysia in 2009. and it's limited to certain fields at the moment. so far, no professional courses have been included. in the UK, RPL have been around for a long time. it's where people convert their working experience into diplomas or degrees to get further in life. and they already have the system fully fleshed out to cater into a lot of profession, in which architecture is one of them.

we dont have this system, not for architecture, not for anything else, ever. until 2009 that is. it means we dont have a system to recognize local working experience as part of learning. we still have a long way to go on this. it's not limited to LAM, it's the national policy. things are already changing. what u're complaining is not new to us. we've been harping on it for so long. i mean, people like kamil merican (principle of GDP architect), which is very prominent in local scene, still is not professionally qualified in malaysia (as far as i know). he's been fighting for this change most of his life, and slowly new policies are introduced at national level to finally allow LAM to accommodate them.

so after we have the ability to recognize local experiences, then we will have the framework to recognize overseas experiences.

but then again, LAM already have the IDP module which anyone with an architectural degree (non-accredited) can take. my colleagues from japan already took them and passed and acquired his LAM part 2. but yes, u still need an architectural degree to qualify. at the moment, as long as that degree is recognized by the originating country to practice there, the holder can register with LAM to take the part 2 exam with IDP module.

the IDP module (integrated design project) is a 4 month theoretical design project, like a mini-thesis, where all that experience u said u've acquired to be showcased. it's something anyone could take, where the more experience they have in practice, the better the outcome will be, hopefully.

but it doesnt mean anyone with 10 year experience WILL CERTAINLY pass. i dont know how much work experience u have under ur belt, thing is, not everyone will get to do everything from A to Z in a project. during my practice years, i'm good at ideation and talking/convincing the client to accept the design. my firm exclusively put me upfront for 2 years without having had a single hand in working drawing or technical detail production, site works or consultant management.

imagine doing that for 10 years? i might probably fail IDP because i cant draw a retention wall for a sloping house. point here is, accumulation of experience is great. no one doubts that. but for any professional exam, there's a standard to uphold. there's a reason medical training includes working in teaching hospitals AFTER going through academic structure. no one can obtain a medical license without a medical degree. same with architecture.

do note that most top ranking schools (especially those in london) have a substantial amount of scholarships lying around, particularly for international students. i didnt apply during my years over there because i was already under contract with JPA malaysia. but my colleagues didnt have any problems getting one.

these things do happen, and it's quite common. most of the time it's attributed to the lecturers ability to manage the studio and instruct students, but it also depends on the ability to go deep into the students' designs. this is more prevalent in studios with inexperienced lecturers, or lecturers who thinks they're too good for everything else.

but the thing is, not many of these favourite students will survive post school. and i'm not saying this to make you feel good. i have friends in practice who keeps complaining how they fire top graduates from local schools because they cant put together a valid argument on design! some survived for 3-4 months, others 1-2 weeks before having to change schools. in fact, some could not land in a good firm and eventually ended up in school, teaching.

academic wise there's nothing wrong with them. but when u work in practice, u need to know ur design inside out. and i mean KNOW everything about it. if u take somebody else's design, change a bit here and there and call it yours (like your friends did), then u wont be able to justify why that room there with that orientation and that shape, right? because it came from somewhere else!

not to worry about it. u will have the last laugh. just do what u do and be true to yourself.

and possibly switch school after ur part 1 to see how other schools do it. wanna join UTM?

Thats about right, for a part 2 graduate (meaning after 5years of study), dont forget to mention that

please read up the 1st post in the 1st page. it should shed some light to ur questions. if u have further questions, dont hesitate to ask again.