The Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC) overwhelmingly approved mandatory continuing education for its members at its April 7 annual general meeting. Using the AIA Continuing Education System (AIA/CES) as a model, the AIBC will require 18 hours per year of continuing education, with at least 8 of those hours devoted to topics of public health, safety, and welfare. Their neighbors to the east in Alberta are considering a similar adoption of the AIA/CES the week of April 23.

The British Columbia program will become effective July 1, with the first reporting period beginning December 31, 2002.

If British Columbia and Alberta set up an AIA-like continuing education system, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are likely to join them in a Western-province alignment, according to Brian G. Hart, FRAIC, AIA, a member of the AIBC. Manitoba is the only province of the four that already has a mandatory continuing education system already in place. Architects in that province have been required to complete 20 hours of continuing education per year. They may decide to adjust that to 18 in keeping with the provinces to its west.

Ontario has the most rigorous mandatory continuous education in North America, requiring 50 hours per year and dictating that all of the education occur in Ontario. A source close to the situation in Ottawa reports that the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, headquartered in that capital city, is looking closely at the situation nationally. Architects in Ontario generally, though, "are concerned with the way we are going," Hart said.

The British Columbia architects have yet to decide on a reporting system. One option is to use the University of Oklahoma reporting system that already supports the AIA/CES.

Copyright 2001 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.