SLIIT School of Architecture awarded RIBA full accreditation

SLIIT School of Architecture was awarded a full accreditation by the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The SLIIT School of Architecture, at the SLIIT Malabe campus was established in 2016 and it is the youngest school so far in Sri Lanka to obtain this prestigious global recognition within a duration of merely four ( 04) years.

The RIBA accredited BSc ( Hons) Architecture degree awarded at SLIIT by Liverpool John Moore’s University in UK has also been validated as a declared course by the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects in 2018 and revalidated on 5th January 2020.

RIBA Validation is a peer review process that monitors compliance with internationally recognized standards in architectural education. It also encourages excellence and diversity in student achievement.

The six (06) member board sent by RIBA to monitor the process prior to the granting of the validation consisted of Academics, practitioners and a local representative. The panel was chaired by Prof. Sally Stewart from the Macintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow – Scotland. The Cambridge educated Sri Lankan senior Architect Mano Ponnaiah was the local representative in the RIBA panel.

This validation which was awarded on 30th January 2020 after three (03) days of intense meetings and evaluations of the students work, facilities and the ethos of the school, allows SLIIT architecture students to obtain the coveted RIBA membership.

The full accreditation is valid for the maximum period of five (05) years for its BSc (Hons) Architecture degree program. Following the RIBA accreditation in January, a Re- validation visit was conducted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Architects on the 5th of February 2020.

The SLIIT School of Architecture is due to commence the MSc (Architecture) postgraduate degree in September 2020. The School is headed by Archt. Aishani Jayasinghe who is a graduate from the University of Hong Kong, with a Masters in Architecture from the University of Moratuwa.

There are nine ( 09) Chartered Architects including two professors in the dedicated academic panel, in addition to 12 Chartered Architects on part time basis as associate design tutors and visiting lecturers ensuring the students have access to individual attention and guidance.

The academic guidance for the programme is received through the ‘ Chair Professor’, Archt. Prof. Nimal De Silva, Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of Moratuwa, who is also the former Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Moratuwa and renowned for his expertise of Traditional Sri Lankan Architecture with over 40 years of experience in architectural education and practice of architecture.