Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Skills Assesment - AACA

Disclaimer: I am NO FINAL AUTHORITY on AACA assessments. I only intend to help others like myself. My below post should be in no way considered the final say on positive or negative assessments outcomes.   I can speak from personal experiences, AACA might have other parameters to consider as well, that frankly, I might not be aware of. 



What is Skills Assessment? 

 ‘A skills assessment should not be confused with licensing or registration. A skills assessment helps you to determine whether your skills and experience is relevant to Australian standards in your nominated occupation while registration or licensing means you hold a license or registration and have permission from the relevant authority to practise in Australia’.

What did I do? 


My below post is only with regards to assessments for Migration purposes only. AACA conducts other assessments in order to practice as an Architect and use the title of Architect in Australia.
I have had a lot of queries on AACA skills assessment for migration purposes.
As most of the enquirers may know, it is one of the hardest professional bodies to get positive assessments for migration purposes.
When I heard of this, naturally, i was worried and embarked on a search of what it was the AACA was looking for.
First things first,

1)  Read the requirements on the form itself. From what I gathered, they look for 4 core subjects of learning - History, Communications, Technology and Design.
2) Ask yourself if you were these 4 subjects were in your course? Maybe, there were called differently, but still catered to these 4 streams.
3) Do a little background search from past students of your own University based in Australia and currently practicing there. they had to have gone through this step for them to be practicing there now.
A good place to start would be social networking sites. I contacted quite a few of them through Facebook and Linked. All of them replied in the affirmative, and i took courage from that fact.
4) All  I submitted were my CERTIFIED Copies of Mark Sheets of every semester of my B.Arch course. In my case, these were 10 mark sheets for 10 semesters. That's all - I did not include registration to any country. It was not required and I did not see the need.
5) The form itself also asks a few questions that should be an indicator of what they are looking for such as
studying the core subjects mentioned above, Preparation of a Thesis, Practical work experience during the 5 year course and the length of course itself (ideally 5 years)

In my opinion, if you have had positive replies to all my 5 points above - the chances of you getting through is rather good.

For your further information, please find below the list of subjects mentioned in my Marks sheets (all 10) and not in any particular order :

Technical English, 
History of Architecture (all semesters)
Structures (all semesters)
Graphics (all semesters) 
Design (all semsters) 
Priniciples of Architecture
Modern Architecture
Building Construction (all semesters)
 Professional Architecture
Interior Design 
Climatology
Computer Programming
Computational Practice
Computer Applications in Architecture
Applied Mathematics
Free hand drawing & rendering
Architectural Model Making
Surverying & Levelling
Architectural Photography
Sociology
Estimation
Building Services 
Building Specification
Building Economics
Working Drawings
Architectural Seminar
Architectural Acoustics
Human Settlements
Professional Practice
Urban Design
Landscape Architecture
Principles of Building Conservation
Structures Thesis
Building Technology & Management
Architectural Theory & Research (recent trends)
Rural & Traditional Architecture
Advanced Structures



I hope this helps all of you'll in any way. I do really wish you'll the very best!!!