The Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA) has completed the final stage of its 2026 Professional Practice Examinations for architects, with results awaiting regulatory certification. 

The Examination Board is reviewing the results before submitting them to the Board of the Architects Registration Council, the profession’s regulator, for certification. 

Professor Daniel Duah, Chief Examiner of the GIA Professional Practice Examinations, said the rigorous assessment process was designed to ensure that only qualified and competent architects were licensed to practise in Ghana. 

“We recommend that candidates are licensed to practise the profession of architecture. Once licensed, they can practise anywhere in the country, so it is important that we serve as good gatekeepers to ensure that only those who are truly ready go through,” he said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra. 

Prof. Duah said the examinations assessed candidates’ readiness for professional practice rather than their design ability, explaining that graduates would already have acquired the necessary design skills through university education and supervised practical training. 

“It is not about whether you can design. It is about whether you are ready to practise  

professionally and make decisions that affect public safety, such as determining whether a site can support a proposed building before construction begins,” he said. 

Prof. Duah said 96 candidates applied for the 2026 examinations, an increase on the previous year’s figure. Following the initial assessment, 10 candidates did not qualify to proceed, leaving 86 to continue through the examination process. 

He  said the examinations comprised three stages to comprehensively assess candidates’ professional competence after completing their academic studies and mandatory practical training. 

Prof. Duah explained that graduates of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology completed six years of academic study followed by two years of supervised professional practice, while graduates of institutions offering five-year architecture programmes undertook three years of practical training before qualifying for the examinations. 

He said architecture programmes in Ghana were jointly accredited by the Ghana Institute of Architects and the Architects Registration Council. 

Prof. Duah said candidates who progressed beyond the first stage participated in two weeks of intensive workshops before sitting written examinations and later attending post-examination interviews. 

He said the interviews enabled examiners to assess candidates’ understanding of issues that might not have been fully demonstrated during the written examinations. 

Prof. Duah said the Institute was preparing a comprehensive manual to consolidate policies and procedures governing the professional examinations to enhance consistency, transparency and continuous improvement. 

He said the proposed manual would be submitted to the Council of the Ghana Institute of Architects for approval. 

Prof. Duah said feedback from industry and candidates on the revised examination format had been encouraging and reaffirmed the Institute’s commitment to maintaining high professional standards. 

He advised architecture students to attach equal importance to their academic studies and industrial attachments. 

“Professional internships are very important because they expose students to industry practice and help prepare them for professional life,” he said. 

Prof. Duah encouraged students to take advantage of practical training opportunities to prepare for professional practice.