Choosing an accredited undergraduate or Masters degree is a well-established career entry route in many sectors including engineering, planning and architecture, and is widely recognised as the first step on a career pathway leading to professional status. This opportunity will soon be available to archaeology students in the UK through collaborative working between CIfA and University Archaeology UK (UAUK).
An accreditation panel comprising members of both CIfA and UAUK attended training in May and, in the first wave, seven academic institutions have submitted undergraduate degree programmes to be examined by the panel in July and followed up with site visits in the autumn. It is anticipated that the first degree programmes will be accredited before Christmas.
As well as providing graduates with greater employability it is hoped that a stronger relationship will be built between the commercial and university sectors through embedding professional standards into archaeology degrees in the UK, encouraging academics to be more involved in the work and advocacy of the CIfA and involving commercial archaeologists with university provision.
For more information about accredited degrees see here and if you’d like more information about becoming a member of the Degree Accreditation panel please contact Anna at anna.welch [at] archaeologists.net
