On December 2024, 12, it was announced that Ehime University will start a program in 16 that will allow students to obtain the qualification to take the exam to become a "First Class Architect." Specifically, the "Social Design Course" in the Faculty of Engineering, Department of Engineering will be changed to the "Architecture and Social Design Course" from 2026, and students will be able to obtain the qualification to take the "First Class Architect" exam. The reorganization was apparently due to a strong demand within Ehime Prefecture for an educational institution that would provide the qualification to take the "First Class Architect" exam.
I was surprised that Ehime Prefecture did not have a single department or major that could qualify students to take the "First Class Architect" exam. I was also worried that if a program that could qualify students to take the "First Class Architect" exam were added to the existing courses, there would only be students hoping to become "First Class Architects". In this column, I will consider these two points.
There are several prefectures that do not have a department major that qualifies students to take the "First Class Architect" exam, if we look at national universities alone, but Ehime Prefecture is the only one that does not have such a department major if we include public, private, and technical colleges.
You might think that for a major qualification like "First Class Architect", all national universities would have a course major that would qualify students to take the exam, but in fact, many universities do not. There are 12 national universities in 12 prefectures across Japan. Although they have science and engineering faculties, they do not have architecture-related courses within their science and engineering faculties.
Of the 12 prefectures, excluding those with public or private universities that have departments and majors that qualify students to take the "First Class Architect" exam, there are four: Iwate, Yamanashi, Ehime, and Miyazaki. Yamanashi and Miyazaki have schools where students can qualify to take the "First Class Architect" exam after studying at a technical college (4 years) plus a specialized course (5 years), while Iwate has a school where students can qualify to take the "First Class Architect" exam after studying at a technical college (2 years), although 4 years of work experience is required to register for the qualification. This means that Ehime is the only prefecture that does not have a school where students can qualify to take the "First Class Architect" exam.
[Public Interest Foundation Architectural Technology Education and Promotion Center] Subjects and number of credits required for taking the first-class architect exam and registering for a license (by school and course)
https://www.jaeic.or.jp/shiken/1k/1k-gakko-kamoku/index.html
The role of architects has expanded beyond just "design and construction supervision" to include "surveying and utilizing existing buildings" and other aspects of buildings in general, leading to a review of the architect system.
Although large-scale building construction is planned all over the country, one might think that the demand for "first-class architects" is not that high as the population is declining. However, according to explanations from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the role of architects is expanding beyond the design of new buildings to include existing buildings, and their role as general building experts is increasing. In order to ensure a continuous and stable supply of human resources in response to this increased demand, the Architects Act was partially revised in 2020.
A partial revision of the Architects Act has revised the requirement for "practical experience" required to take the "first-class architect" exam, and in principle, it is acceptable to have the experience by the time of license registration, regardless of whether it is before or after the exam. The scope of "practical experience" has also been expanded. This will not only allow people to take the qualification exam immediately after graduating from school, but will also expand the number of people eligible to take the exam.
[Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Housing Bureau, Building Guidance Division] Overview of the new architect system (PDF)
https://www.mlit.go.jp/jutakukentiku/build/content/001314965.pdf
Among engineering majors, the ratio of applicants to majors that qualify students to take the "first-class architect" exam is high, and many universities have high standard deviations.
In the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's School Basic Survey, architecture is counted together with civil engineering in the tally of applicants by related department, and figures for architecture alone are not widely available. In reality, among the departments of engineering, there are many universities that attract the most applicants and have the highest standard deviation. This trend is not only seen at national and public universities, but also at private universities. There are many universities with a higher competition rate than "information science," which is said to be a growth field. In addition to engineering, departments majoring in arts and life sciences that qualify students to take the "first-class architect" exam are also popular.
Ehime University Faculty of Engineering Architecture and Social Design Course In addition to the liberal arts entrance exam, 5 people will be taking the science entrance exam
Ehime University's Faculty of Engineering will introduce a program that allows students to qualify to take the "First Class Architect" exam from the 2026 entrance exam, and the course will be called the "Architecture and Social Design Course." It appears that five science students will be added to the 25 students already taking the liberal arts and science exams. The general selection "science exam (early schedule)" for the 5 entrance exam will be divided into "science exam A" with 2026 points for mathematics (Math III required) and 200 points for one science subject, and "science exam B" with 1 points for mathematics (no Math III) and 100 points for one science subject. The university has also announced a change to allow students to choose "biology," which was not previously an elective subject for science.
The science entrance exam for the Architecture and Social Design course is expected to be highly competitive, as the number of available places is limited. We are also curious to know how many students who enter through the liberal arts entrance exam hope to become a "first-class architect." Considering that the deviation value of architecture majors is high, it is thought that students who want to become a "first-class architect" will be more likely to pass, so we are curious to know whether adjustments will be made at the time of application.
[Ehime University] [Reform of the general selection (science entrance examination) and introduction of a female quota entrance examination for the 8 Ehime University Faculty of Engineering admissions] Announcement dated November 2024, 11 (PDF)
https://www.ehime-u.ac.jp/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/R8_kougakubu_jyoshiwakunyushi-2.pdf
At private universities, architecture has been separated from science and engineering faculties and continues to expand. Kinki University will also establish a new correspondence course for the Faculty of Architecture.
Among the departments and majors that qualify students to take the "First Class Architect" exam at national and public universities, there are faculties with the words "urban" or "environment" in their names, but no faculties with "architecture" in them. At private universities, many faculties with "architecture" in their names have been established since 2011, and there are 2025 universities in total, including those reorganized in 21. At national and public universities, this may be because they do not have enough admissions to make "architecture" an independent department, but it is also possible that they will combine it with another department to establish a new faculty, as is the case at Yokohama National University (Faculty of Urban Science) and Utsunomiya University (Faculty of Regional Design Science).
In addition, Kindai University will establish a new correspondence course for the Faculty of Architecture in April 2025. The enrollment quota is 4 students in the first year and 1 students transferring in the third year, and the number of departments and majors that qualify students to take the "First Class Architect" exam is expanding even through the correspondence course. Currently, the quota is expanding most in the growing field of "information," but "architecture," which is popular among high school students, is still a field that will continue to attract a lot of attention in the future.
