RICS APC requirements
The route to chartership is made up of 24 months whereby the apprentice collects evidence to support completion of all the appropriate professional competencies, the apprentice is mentored through this process by the RICS counsellor (allocated to them by their employer) who also signs off on the competencies.
During this period the apprentice must also accrue a minimum of 48 hours CPD/12 months. This section of the route to chartership must be completed at the same time as the degree element of the apprenticeship, thus apprentices are enrolled by the school onto the RICS APC when they have a minimum of 24 months of academic study remaining on their programme. Once the Apprentice has completed their degree they must be in a position to move onto the RICS Panel Exam – this requires the document demonstrating completion of all competencies plus a case study report to be sent to the RICS APC in advance of the panel exam (2-3 months in advance), the apprentice is then invited to sit the panel exam. The date by which they must complete the panel exam (EPA as referred to in the Apprenticeship docs) is detailed within the apprenticeship award.
Providers have 20% of Apprenticeship fee withheld until the Apprentice has satisfactorily completed the EPA, therefore if the panel exam isn’t satisfactorily completed by the date specified within the Apprenticeship Award, the school has the option of requesting the 20% withheld fees from the employer.
The APC doesn’t form part of the academic programme as only RICS can determine who joins them but the route to chartership runs concurrent with the degree element and link tutors will monitor APC progress as part of the quarterly review meetings.
In order to support students on the apprenticeship programme, the employer will need to have a structured APC training plan in place (we will need to see this upon application) and will need to provide an APC Counsellor (member of RICS) and Supervisor.
If the employer does not have a training plan, the RICS training template can be used.
All counsellors must complete the RICS counsellor e-learning module.
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