UIA Architectural Education Commission – Delivering the Promise

Abstract

This report documents the work of the UIA Architectural Education Commission (EDUCOM) during the 2023–2026 Triennale, co-directed by Ashraf M. Salama and Selma Harrington. It records the mandate received from the UIA President and Council and the integrated programme through which it was implemented. This includes five international webinars engaging more than thirty speakers from all five UIA regions; a pilot survey of education systems in seventeen countries; a global survey of 345 schools across 159 countries, the largest evidence base ever assembled for an EDUCOM activity; the third edition of the UIA Award for Innovation in Architectural Education; and the revision of the UNESCO-UIA Charter, approved by the UIA Council in April 2026 for ratification at the Barcelona Congress, July 2026. Guided by three working principles that involve evidence, collegiality across institutions, and regional balance, the Commission's activities were sequenced so that they informed each other. The defining condition emerging from this body of work is a gap between the values the discipline declares and the institutional capacity to operationalise and implement them effectively. The report concludes with the limitations of the Triennale's endeavours, projections for EDUCOM 2026–2029, and a reflection from the co-directors on trust, evidence, and the promise of architectural education.