British architecture institute constructs better cooperation

"Students will become our members if they are at a school of architecture validated by the RIBA. It will give them an additional qualification. If you're a RIBA chartered architect, you're deemed to be qualified at the highest level of professional standards," Vallance says.

The global higher education company Quacquarelli Symonds released a list of the world's top universities in architecture and construction for 2019, based upon academic and employer reputation and research impact. Tsinghua University ranked 10th globally.

"It means the Chinese education of architects is as good as anywhere else, but there are many universities who have not made it to that same standard yet," Vallance says.

The RIBA validation process, he points out, aims to help these universities understand the quality of its architectural education, and what they need to do to get to that standard. The RIBA will assess them against that standard.

In October, the RIBA released the 2030 Climate Challenge, with a series of targets for practices to adopt to reduce operational energy, embodied carbon and drinking water usage. It aims to help architects meet net-zero (or better) whole life carbon for new and retrofitted buildings by 2030.

"Climate change is a global challenge for architects. When they design buildings and communities for sustainability, it needs to be tailored to local situations. There's an opportunity for organizations like us to work closely," he says.

Vallance says the RIBA had a long-standing relationship with the Architectural Society of China and looks forward to deepening relationships with more societies in China.

He believes there is tremendous potential for the Chinese architecture sector. He says UK architects have been designing buildings in China, but this direction could change as more Chinese architects establish global reputations.

"China has done well in fields like robotics, the adoption of technology and urban planning through better digital products. We've seen some fantastic examples where Chinese architects have adopted digital technology in their practice, such as virtual reality and cloud computing."

He visited hutong (alleys) near the Forbidden City during his recent trip and was impressed by Beijing's ancient architecture.

"The RIBA has many renovation and preservation experts. The architects in China and outside China can work together on topics like heritage architecture," he says.