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Join IHBC/Education & Training/Recognition of Courses
RECOGNITION OF
COURSES BY IHBC
(PDF download of page)
IHBC and
Course Recognition
This page carries guidance on procedures and standards required for
courses to achieve recognition by IHBC.
Full recognition of a course by the Institute confirms
that the course achieves a standard that should allow its graduates to
satisfy IHBC membership criteria, where supplemented by an suitable
balance of professional experience. Full recognition confirms that the
course provides the aspiring conservation professional with the best
possible support for attaining IHBC membership. Ordinarily applicants
for IHBC membership without formal conservation training require a
minimum of five years of relevant professional experience, but
graduates of fully recognised courses need only have a minimum of two
years of such experience.
Conservation courses that are fully recognised by the
IHBC provide a unique route to professional activity in the field
conservation. They provide an informed inter-disciplinary grounding in
the understanding of conservation that no traditional built environment
training programmes aspire to match. They give students the essential
tools to develop a career in the sustainable conservation and
management of a rare and valuable resource, our historic places.
The skills typically developed in the fully recognised
courses are inter-disciplinary, environmentally-aware and people-based,
focussing on managerial and advisory skills based on a direct
experience of the conservation process. Such skills are increasingly
sought after. Indeed the ConstructionSkills Sector Skills Council’s
research ‘Altogether Stronger - Skills Needs Analysis for
construction’ (2004/5) has noted that
‘Research with best practice construction has revealed
that… managers… are weaker in the soft skills needed for successful
partnering… There is a lack of understanding of the impact of the
Government’s wide-ranging sustainability agenda… [and] there is
evidence of a growing concern as to the skills of both their existing
staff and new recruits. These centre particularly on the technical
skills associated with design and the management of projects’.
Procedure for Course
Recognition
- Course Leaders submit their course syllabus to the
Institute for formal recognition. Further details are provided below.
- The syllabus will be assessed in terms of the eight
competences required for membership. (www.ihbc.org.uk/membership.htm)
- A summary of how those competences are addressed
within the syllabus also must be submitted, together with any other
relevant supporting information (e.g. membership of IHBC by
contributors, etc.)
- Where a course achieves recognition, publicity must
clearly reflect the standing of the course with the IHBC, and copies
(electronic or otherwise) of all core publicity should be passed to the
Director.
We are very keen to support educational initiatives
that help in the conservation of historic places, and all applications
will be scrutinised and commented on in a constructive manner. Also, we
recognise that all of the criteria for full membership cannot be
totally reflected in course work, so Course Leaders are encouraged to
interpret the competences in terms that appear most appropriate to the
course or courses offered. If there are any queries on issues, IHBC is
happy to advise, and any such matters should be passed to the Director
in the first instance.
As we are reviewing the balance and standards of
competences to be expected of students within a course programme, we
will not ascribe to any course a guaranteed route to full IHBC
membership. However, as our constitution recognises, in considering any
application for full membership, special weight will be placed on how
the balance of professional experience and educational coursework
support the applicant’s competences.
Where competences are not covered within a course to a
standard reflecting that required for full membership, then students
looking to become Full Members of the IHBC should be made aware of the
need to gain those competences outside the course, for example either
through their professional experience or suitable complementary
training routes, such as CPD. Publicity for recognised courses must
reflect the standing of the course as either ‘satisfying all the
competences’ or list the specific competences it satisfies in
accordance with the guidelines below. Prospective students should be
directed to the IHBC web site which will also carry this information.
Copies (electronic or otherwise) of core course information should be
passed to the Director.
Offering Course
Recognition: what we will do
There are two forms of course recognition operated by
the IHBC:
- Where a course will help a student achieve the full
range of IHBC competences to a suitable standard we will recognise it
as ‘a course satisfying all the competences of the IHBC’, that is:
‘A Course that can provide the full range
of training expected of an applicant for full IHBC membership and
which, in conjunction with appropriate professional experience (minimum
2 years), should secure full membership of the IHBC.’
- Where a course will help a student achieve specific
IHBC competences to a suitable standard we will recognise it as ‘a
course satisfying the following competences of the IHBC: [LISTED]’,
that is:
‘A Course that can provide a part of the
training expected of an applicant for full IHBC Membership and which,
in conjunction with appropriate professional experience (minimum 2
years), will help secure full membership of the IHBC. The competences
addressed are: [list competences]’
NB: Any course can only satisfy an
applicant’s requirements for IHBC membership when supplemented by
appropriate professional experience
All recognised courses may be promoted as being
‘Recognised by the IHBC’ in publicity material, and our logo adopted.
However the information on the course must make clear the precise areas
of recognition, and adopt the corresponding phrasing above. In all
publicity and information appropriate emphasis should be given to the
fact that, in accordance with our constitution, a course can satisfy an
individual’s membership requirements only in conjunction with
appropriate professional experience.
Changes in courses must be notified to us immediately
for review, while each year a cross-section of recognised courses will
be re-assessed.
Achieving Course
Recognition by IHBC: what you must do
- Send a copy of your syllabus and associated
information (preferably electronically) to the Director
(director@ihbc.org.uk, or at the postal address 33 Barony Street,
EDINBURGH, EH3 6NX)
- Submit also an assessment of how you consider the
course addresses the Institute’s competences (both as regards strengths
and weaknesses).
Please supply any additional information you think may support your
case for recognition.
We hope to present a formal determination within three
months of full submission, provided no issues need to be addressed.
However where special circumstances apply, we reserve the right to
alter this. Should you require ‘fast-tracking’ for a particular reason,
please advise us accordingly.
Promoting Course
Recognition: what you can do
Please do encourage your students to join the
Institute as affiliates or as appropriate, and to become involved with
our activities. Student rates are generally subsidised, and
participation in IHBC events will enhance the credibility of any
applicant for full membership.
In addition, course tutors or contributors who are not
already members might like to consider applying for full or affiliate
membership; affiliate membership in particular may often suit course
leaders, while involvement with our operations could provide an
appropriate route to full membership.
Finally, in determining who should contribute to your
course-work, consideration should be given to achieving a balance of
IHBC members (full, affiliate, or associate). The breadth of skills
typical of IHBC members can help mitigate issues arising from more
narrow or focused courses.
Any enquiries should be passed to the Director (director@ihbc.org.uk,
or to the postal address, 33 Barony Street, EDINBURGH, EH3 6NX).
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