My MRA Experience: Bryan Oknyansky on Licensure
Fiona Mckay
Before the MRA, I was resigned to never being a qualified (equivalent to “licensed” as we say in the US) architect in the UK. I heard too many stories from skilled, talented and experienced American architectural professionals that started on the traditional 3-part UK Architectural Registration Board (ARB) path to qualification that ended with a lot of money and time spent only to be denied a qualification through an opaque determination process. And then, to this day, the only silver lining of Brexit is that the UK was able to negotiate directly with the US on reciprocity via the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA).
I was sceptical of this process as it was expensive and administered through the same organisation that administered the aforementioned traditional qualification process. I had a desire to be the, or one of the, first to become qualified through the MRA route. Alas, I waited to see how others faired before setting the costly process in motion. Eventually, after about a year had passed, I took the plunge and started the process to become the 14th applicant for qualification under the MRA.
At first glance, there seemed to be minimal criteria to submit information for consideration during the qualification process – a CV and a reflective career summary with specific references to learning outcomes and competencies found within appendices in the ARB qualification handbook. Given my past experience with the traditional 3-part qualification route, I felt I had to go above and beyond with the information I provided in response to the qualification requirements – better safe than sorry.
Eventually, a meeting was scheduled following payment of the MRA fee, a sort of pow wow with tribal elders, which is something I feel is more appropriate to gain an architectural qualification than a standardised test. The proctor’s requirement to make no indications as to how the meeting was going for the applicant notwithstanding, they wanted to get to know me, ask me about how architectural education and licensing works in the US, and learn that the professional and ethical values prized by NCARB are virtually identical to those prized by the ARB. It was great to be finally done with tip-toeing around the use of the title “architect” in the country I’ve come to call home for 14 years at that point.
Written by Bryan Oknyansky, AIA, ARB
