Architecture BA(Hons)

Becoming an architect

Our Architecture BA(Hons) is accredited by the Architects Registration Board (ARB) and validated by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).

To be able to register as an architect you need to complete three stages of your studies: RIBA parts 1, 2 and 3.

Successful completion of our Architecture BA(Hons) means you'll be awarded RIBA Part I and enables you to progress to the RIBA Part 2 or MArch course which you can also study at Brighton. From here you can continue your studies at Brighton all the way to becoming a qualified architect.

To find out more, read course leader Dr Ben Sweeting’s guide to becoming an architect on our blog.

Find out more about our architectural courses.

• Architecture Professional Practice Pre-Diploma
• Architecture RIBA Part 2 MArch
• Architecture Post Part 2 Professional Experience
• Architecture RIBA Part 3 PGDip

Preparing for your career

In your career you need a combination of knowledge, skills, personal qualities and relevant experiences – and you’ll get all of this from your degree.

The course provides subject knowledge and expertise, opportunities to put what you learn into practice and work-related experience. You'll also develop transferable personal skills in teamwork, and project and time management that will be valued wherever your career takes you.

Working and collaborating with students from all years of your course, and with postgraduate and research students, is a big part of your learning experience. Guest lectures from innovative architecture practices are a regular part of school life.

In your final year, the Professional Practices module gives you the opportunity to apply what you have learned.

Through your final year project you will demonstrate your understanding of planning and building regulations, design and access statements, cost control, and health and safety. At the end of the project you will produce a report which will be an important part of your portfolio.

Interview speed dating

During your final year we will help you prepare for the realities of job hunting. You will get the opportunity to present yourself to professional architects in a series of mock interviews, a bit like speed dating!

You'll get interview practice and feedback on your work and interview technique, but this activity also works in a more direct way and can, and has, led to formal interviews.

At RIBA mock interviews practising architects give students valuable feedback

Links with industry

Our close links with RIBA South East include the opportunity to sign up with the practice mentoring scheme – which includes a series of meet ups and site visits. Plus you'll be able to get advice on CVs, interview techniques and portfolios.

Close links with business mean that you will also have opportunities for live site visits to construction sites.

Architecture courses are taught at our Brighton: Moulsecoomb campus which has been transformed by the Big Build, a development that has created new spaces for our students to study, live and socialise. The development became part of our architectural learning, providing a live classroom for our technical and professional practice modules.

Architect's illustration of the Big Build.

Career destinations

Our students have gone from Brighton into both local and internationally renowned practices including:

• Allies and Morrison
• Andrés Jaque Architects
• de Rijke Marsh Morgan
• Junya Ishigami
• Norman Foster
• Sauerbruch Hutton.

Students have also started their own studios or businesses. Others have taken a career in teaching and academia, with research study potential offered through the university’s doctoral college.

Building your employability

Outside of your course, our Careers Service is here to support you as you discover (and re-discover) your strengths and what matters to you. We are here for you throughout your university journey as you work towards a fulfilling and rewarding career.

Connect with our careers team

• Find part-time work that you can combine with your studies.
• Find, or be, a mentor or get involved with our peer-to-peer support scheme.
• Develop your business ideas through our entrepreneurial support network.
• Get professional advice and support with career planning, CV writing and interview top tips.
• Meet potential employers at our careers fairs.
• Find rewarding volunteering opportunities to help you discover more about what makes you tick, and build your CV.

Whatever your career needs, we are here to help. And that's not just while you are a student, our support carries on after you've graduated.

Find out more about our Careers Service...

Employment demand for arts graduates

The British Academy has compiled a report (May 2020) quantifying the demand for arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) skills in the workplace. It helps to answer the legitimate question of what the economic return is on undertaking a degree, both in time and money. 

According to the report:

• As arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) graduates progress through the first ten years of their career they are able to make strong progress up the career ladder into roles attracting higher salaries
• Arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) graduates are employed in some of the fastest growing sectors including financial services, education, social work, the media and creative industries
• Of the ten fastest growing sectors, eight employ more graduates from AHSS than other disciplines.

This makes AHSS graduates at the heart of some of the most exciting, productive, largest and fastest-growing sectors of the UK economy.

Future skills demand

According to the report:

• With the challenges the world is facing – climate change, global pandemics, the growth of populism – the UK needs the insights of the arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS) as much as those from science, technology and engineering (STEM)
• Evidence within the report shows that Arts, humanities and social science (AHSS) graduates are central to these challenges and changes – they will be vital in giving us the tools to examine and explain human behaviour, understand how society functions, learn from the past and apply those lessons to the present, and analyse the drivers and implications of a changing world and how different countries, places and cultures interact.