Accreditation

In the United States, most state 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 U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted a 6-year, 3-year, or 2-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards. Doctor of Architecture and Master of Architecture degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree that, when earned sequentially, constitute an accredited professional education. However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

The University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design, Department of Architecture offers the following NAAB-accredited degree programs:

• M.Arch. (pre-professional degree (120 credits) + 48 graduate credits)
• M.Arch. (non-pre-professional degree + 72 credits)
   

The next accreditation visit for all programs is 2016.

Summer Study Programs

[IN]ARCH: Berkeley's Post-Baccalaureate Introduction to Architecture. The Department of Architecture conducts an eight-week intensive summer program for those interested in architecture but with undergraduate majors or degrees in other fields. The program presents a condensed experience of architectural study at the graduate level and prepares students to apply for a Master of Architecture degree program if they choose. See the Berkeley [IN]STITUTES in Environmental Design for dates, deadlines, and application instructions.

DIS Denmark Architectural Design and Furniture Design Program. The department also sponsors a seven-week residential studio program affiliated with the Danish International Studies program in Copenhagen, Denmark. The program is open to currently enrolled undergraduate and graduate architecture students at UC Berkeley. Visit the Study Abroad in Denmark webpage for further information.

Areas of Study

Architecture. Research and coursework in the architecture degree programs may be carried out within the following areas of study:

• Building Science and Sustainability
• Design Theories, Methods, and Practices
• Environmental Design and Urbanism in Developing Countries
• History of Architecture and Urbanism
• Social and Cultural Processes in Architecture and Urbanism
• Structures and Construction
   

Research topics outside of these fields or combinations of several areas may be undertaken subject to approval of the applicable departmental committees and if supported by qualified departmental faculty members.

Visual Studies. The Visual Studies Area in the Department of Architecture offers a Master of Arts in Design degree program as well as undergraduate and graduate courses in drawing, photography, and word-image relationships, all of which take the visual world as their focus: how to see, how to structure an image, and how to give visual clarity to an idea.

• Visual Studies Area
• Master of Arts in Design