The undergraduate education system of architecture major in American universities in the early days was four years. 1922 Cornell university launched a five-year undergraduate program in architecture department to strengthen the basic skills of architecture graduates. By the 1940s, architecture majors in universities all over the United States had basically implemented a five-year undergraduate teaching model.
At present, there are generally two graduate degrees in architecture in American universities: Master of Architecture and Doctor of Architecture. The architecture majors and degrees of all universities are evaluated by the National Building Accreditation Board (NAAB), and their professional and academic qualifications are strictly certified. The competitive pressure of architecture application is increasing, and many students who apply for American architecture graduate students don't know how many years the master of architecture is in the United States.
There are five kinds of master of architecture academic systems in the United States, namely:
1 and 4-year undergraduate programs are B.S. (Bachelor of Architecture Science) and B.A. (Bachelor of Architecture Art) respectively;
2. Five-year undergraduate B. Arch (Bachelor of Architecture);
3, 4+ 1 academic year undergraduate (b.s+b.arch);
4. 4+2 school year system (B.S+M.ARCH);
5, 3 years master's degree (M. Arch).
Among them, 5-year B.Arch and 2-3-year M. Arch belong to vocational degrees, and students with such degrees are eligible to directly take the professional architect examination organized by NCARB (National Council of American Building Registration Board) and obtain NCARB certificates.
In the United States, all industries have their own professional committees. Well-known legal industries require lawyers to take the bar exam before they can enter the law firm to defend their clients. Similarly, American architects also need NCARB to enter the construction industry to engage in architectural design and other work. The National Building Registration Board of the United States has registered and authorized architectural education in the United States. NAAB (National Building Accreditation Committee) is the only official institution, and schools accredited by this institution are eligible to award bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture.
Architecture courses in the United States involve a wide range of disciplines, and the specific contents of each institution are different. But in general, the core courses are carried out around five categories: environment (architecture and environment, landscape), city (urban history, urban planning), architectural history (art history, human history), theory (architectural structure, architectural theory and building materials) and practice (architectural structure, building regulations).
The proportion of courses in different academic systems is also different. Relatively speaking, architectural history accounts for the highest proportion in the B.Arch academic system, while urban related courses account for the largest proportion in the B.S+M.Arch academic system. In addition, the proportion of B.Arch system in architectural practice courses is higher than that of B.S+M.Arch system, which is closely related to the fact that students of five-year B.Arch system will directly participate in the internship in the last year, and then get the certificate to find a job.