TL;DR: BS Architecture is a five-year degree governed by CHED Memorandum Order No. 61, series of 2017, totalling 205 credit units including PE and NSTP. Its backbone is the ten-course Architectural Design studio sequence, ending with a thesis taken across the fifth year. Yes, there is a licensure exam — under Republic Act No. 9266, the Architecture Act of 2004 — but graduating does not make you eligible for it. The law requires at least two years of diversified architectural experience, certified by a licensed architect, before you may sit. Passing means a 70 percent weighted general average with no grade below 50 percent.
The two facts that catch architecture applicants off guard are both about time. The degree is five years, not four. And the licence does not follow immediately after it — Philippine law inserts a two-year practical experience requirement between graduation and the exam. Together that is a seven-year runway from first year to "Architect" before your name.
This guide covers what CHED actually prescribes inside those five years, and what RA 9266 requires afterwards.
The CHED Order Behind the Degree
CHED Memorandum Order No. 61, series of 2017, "Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the Bachelor of Science in Architecture (BS Archi)," is the governing document. It was adopted by virtue of Commission en banc Resolution No. 231-2017 dated 28 March 2017.
CMO 61 defines the practice of architecture broadly — planning and architectural design, structural conceptualisation, specifying, supervising, and giving general administration and responsible direction to the erection, enlargement, or alteration of buildings and their environments. That definition matters because it is the practice the degree is built to prepare you for and the practice RA 9266 reserves to licensed architects.
Like other post-2015 CHED programme orders, CMO 61 is outcomes-based: it sets required graduate outcomes and a minimum curriculum, then leaves schools room to enrich and re-sequence.
205 Units, Five Years
CMO 61 states plainly: "The BS Architecture program has a total of 205 credit units."
The sample curriculum splits as follows:
| Block | Units |
|---|---|
| Mathematics | 5 |
| Basic engineering courses | 18 |
| Allied courses | 12 |
| Professional courses | 111 |
| Specialisation courses | 3 courses |
| Technical courses total | 155 |
| General education core, electives, and Rizal | 36 |
| PE and NSTP | 14 |
| Grand total (including PE/NSTP) | 205 |
| Grand total (excluding PE/NSTP) | 191 |
Professional courses alone account for well over half the degree. That concentration is the single clearest signal of what the programme is: a professional studio education, not a general-purpose design degree.
The sample programme of study runs First Year through Fifth Year, ten semesters.
The Architectural Design Spine
The course that defines the degree runs the length of it. CMO 61 prescribes ten Architectural Design courses, escalating in scope and studio hours:
- Architectural Design 1 — Introduction to Design
- Architectural Design 2 — Creative Design Fundamentals
- Architectural Design 3 — Creative Design in Architectural Interiors
- Architectural Design 4 — Space Planning 1
- Architectural Design 5 — Space Planning 2
- Architectural Design 6 — Site Development Planning and Landscaping
- Architectural Design 7 — Community Architecture and Urban Design
- Architectural Design 8 — Design of Complex Structures
- Architectural Design 9 — Thesis Research Writing
- Architectural Design 10 — Thesis Research Application
The studio hours climb steeply. The early design courses carry three studio hours a week; by Architectural Design 7 through 10 the prescribed studio load is twelve hours a week per course, alongside everything else. Anyone considering architecture should understand that number before enrolling — it is the reason the degree has the reputation it does for late nights, and it is written into the CHED minimum, not invented by a strict department.
The rest of the professional block supports that spine:
- Building Technology 1 to 5 — building materials; construction drawings in wood, steel and concrete for one-storey and two-storey buildings; specification writing and quantity surveying; and alternative building construction systems
- Building Utilities 1 to 3 — plumbing and sanitary systems; electrical, electronics and mechanical systems; acoustics and lighting systems
- History of Architecture 1 to 4 and Theory of Architecture 1 and 2
- Professional Practice 1 to 3 — laws affecting the practice of architecture, administering the regular services of the architect, and global practice for the 21st century
- Planning 1 to 3 — site planning and landscape architecture, fundamentals of urban design and community architecture, and introduction to urban and regional planning
- Architectural Interiors 1, plus computer-aided design and drafting including BIM, research methods, tropical design, housing, and two business management courses
The basic engineering block — Statics of Rigid Bodies, Strength of Materials, Theory of Structures, Steel and Timber Design, Architectural Structures, and Surveying — is where architecture and civil engineering share ground. Architecture students take structural courses; they do not take them to the depth an engineering programme does, and the two professions are regulated separately.
The allied block is the drawing and visualisation sequence: Architectural Visual Communications 1 through 5, alternating graphics and visual techniques, weighted heavily toward studio hours.
Three specialisation courses sit in the fourth and fifth years, taken in sequence, with each school defining the tracks it can support.
The Licensure Exam, and the Two-Year Gap Before It
Architecture is a regulated profession under Republic Act No. 9266, the Architecture Act of 2004, which repealed the older RA 545. The Professional Regulatory Board of Architecture, composed of a chairman and two members serving three-year terms, administers the licensure examination under the PRC.
Section 13 is the provision graduates most need to read. An applicant for the examination must establish that he or she:
- is a Filipino citizen, or a foreign national qualified under the Act
- is of good moral character
- holds a BS Architecture degree from a CHED-recognised or accredited institution and, in addition, has a specific record of at least two (2) years or equivalent of diversified architectural experience duly certified by a registered/licensed architect
- has not been convicted of a criminal offence involving moral turpitude
The Act adds one relief: an applicant holding a master's degree in architecture from a government-recognised institution is credited one year of the practical experience requirement.
There is no way around this clause. A fresh graduate cannot file for the exam; the experience has to be accumulated first, documented, and certified by a licensed architect. In practice that means most architecture graduates spend two years in a firm as a designer or draftsperson before they can even apply. Budget for it in your plans, and pick an early employer with the range of work that will make the certification honest.
Section 14 sets the subjects. The licensure examination covers, but is not limited to:
- History and Theory of Architecture; Principles of Planning and Architectural Practice
- Structural Design, Building Materials, and Architectural Specifications, and Methods of Construction and Utilities
- Urban Design and Architectural Interiors
- Architectural Design and Site Planning
The Board may revise or exclude subjects and add new ones, subject to PRC approval, so the current syllabi are worth checking against the Board's own issuances rather than an old reviewer.
Section 15 sets the bar. To pass, a candidate must obtain a weighted general average of 70 percent, with no grade lower than 50 percent in any given subject.
PRC schedules the architects licensure examination more than once in a typical year and publishes the dates, application windows, and testing centres in its annual Schedule of Licensure Examinations. Treat that resolution as the only authority on when you can sit — schedules shift, and filing deadlines fall months ahead. Our architecture board exam guide covers the current cycle and the requirements checklist.
What the Licence Lets You Do
RA 9266 reserves architectural practice to registered architects, and Section 20 requires a licensed architect to affix a prescribed seal bearing the registrant's name, registration number, and the title "Architect" on all architectural plans, drawings, and specifications. That seal is the practical reason the licence matters: without it, you cannot sign the documents that get a building permitted and built.
CMO 61 lists the fields of study related to architecture as embodied in RA 9266 and the Architects' National Code: interior design, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning, regional planning, environmental planning, housing, engineering, real estate development, educational management, business management, project management, construction management and technology, building administration and maintenance, and architectural research.
Those are the realistic career directions. Design practice in a firm is the obvious one, but a large share of architecture graduates end up in project management, construction management, developer-side roles, government planning offices, interiors, and heritage or research work. Several of those roles do not strictly require the licence — which is precisely why some graduates delay or skip it, and why others find years later that they wish they had not.
Choosing a School
CMO 61 sets minimum faculty and facility standards, but the gap between a compliant programme and a good one is wide in architecture specifically, because so much of the degree happens in a studio.
Things worth asking about directly:
Studio space and hours. With twelve prescribed studio hours a week in the upper design courses, a programme without adequate studio space is a programme where you work at home.
Faculty who practise. CMO 61 sets professional-practice expectations for programme leadership. Beyond the minimum, faculty who currently run projects bring the code knowledge and detailing habits that make a portfolio employable.
Where graduates do their two years. A school with genuine firm relationships materially shortens the gap between diploma and licensure eligibility.
Our roundup of the best architecture schools in the Philippines is a starting point for shortlisting, and if you are still in senior high school, our guide to the right strand for architecture covers the preparation question.
Is Architecture the Right Course?
The honest framing is this: it is a five-year degree with the heaviest studio load of any undergraduate programme in the CHED catalogue, followed by two years of supervised work, followed by an exam. It is one of the longest paths to a licence among courses with board exams, and the early-career pay does not usually reflect that length.
What you get in return is a protected professional title, a legally reserved scope of practice, and a qualification that travels into planning, interiors, development, and construction management. If you like design and can tolerate the studio grind, it holds up. If you are drawn mainly to buildings as engineering problems, civil engineering is the shorter and more direct route.
Sources
- Commission on Higher Education — CHED Memorandum Order No. 61, s. 2017, Policies, Standards and Guidelines for the Bachelor of Science in Architecture (PDF)
- LawPhil / Republic Act No. 9266 — The Architecture Act of 2004
- Professional Regulation Commission — Schedule of Licensure Examinations for the Year 2026 (Resolution No. 2113, s. 2025, PDF)
