RICS Member – Qualifications and Assessment Committee (QAC)

Bring Professional Insight. Influence Qualifications and Assessment. Shape the Future of the Profession.

Professional qualifications only remain relevant when they evolve alongside the profession they serve.

The Qualifications and Assessment Committee (QAC) of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors helps ensure that RICS qualifications, assessments, and competence requirements remain relevant, rigorous and respected. Across more than 140 countries and diverse educational, cultural and regulatory environments, the Committee provides oversight of how future professionals enter, develop within and progress through one of the world's most respected chartered professions.

RICS is seeking two members who can bring professional insight, sound judgement and a forward-thinking perspective to help shape the future of professional qualifications, assessment and competence. Both appointments will commence in Autumn 2026 following the completion of two members' terms of office.

Why this role matters

The professional qualifications that define what it means to be a RICS professional do not maintain themselves. They require sustained, expert scrutiny from people who understand both what the profession demands today and what it will need to demand tomorrow.

The QAC's remit is broad. It recommends policy and frameworks for professional competence, entry and admission to the profession, and transfer between grades of membership. It oversees assessment standards and methodologies, ensuring they are applied consistently and effectively across global markets. It safeguards education and qualification standards, scrutinising the accreditation of university programmes, post-qualification registers and credentials. And it ensures that everything it does serves the public interest across every jurisdiction in which RICS operates.

RICS members play an essential part on the QAC. You understand what it means to build a career as a RICS professional, whether that understanding comes from your own journey through the assessment process, from supporting others as an assessor, counsellor or Principal Assessor, or from both. That perspective is not just valued: it is central to the Committee's work.

As Keith Thomas FRICS, QAC Chair, puts it: "The QAC's role is to act as guardians of the entry standards." That guardianship is most meaningful when it is exercised by people who care deeply about the profession's future, not just its past.

Why now?

The profession is changing. Artificial intelligence, digital practice, evolving workforce expectations and new models of professional development are reshaping what competence looks like and how it should be assessed. The QAC is at the centre of how RICS responds to those shifts.

Whilst the QAC's oversight spans the full breadth of RICS' qualifications and competence framework, developments in education and assessment, including the RICS-wide Qualifications and Professional Development programme make this a particularly compelling moment to join.

How your expertise will be utilised

Your contribution will span professional competence frameworks, assessment methodologies, education and qualification standards, accreditation and recognition of education programmes, and the ongoing development of qualification policy that must remain coherent and credible across markets with differing legal, educational and professional expectations.

You will also be at the heart of the bigger questions now facing the profession: how qualification frameworks can remain accessible, future-focused and credible as the profession evolves, without losing the standards that underpin public trust. These are live discussions the QAC will be having, and your professional perspective will be central to how RICS responds.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for a current RICS member (AssocRICS, MRICS or FRICS) with a strong understanding of professional competence, ethics and standards within the surveying profession and a genuine commitment to acting in the public interest.

Beyond membership, we are looking for people who bring:

• A forward-thinking mindset, genuinely open to how the profession and its assessment must evolve
• The ability to balance professional insight with independent judgement, contributing to collective decisions that serve the public interest rather than any particular group or constituency
• Experience contributing at board, committee or governance level, whether through RICS regional boards, professional group panels or other governance roles, giving you confidence in scrutinising complex proposals and contributing to evidence-based decision-making
• Resilience and the confidence to defend principled positions under pressure, including from senior stakeholders with strongly held views
• A global outlook, with an appreciation of how RICS qualifications and professional practice operate across diverse markets, educational traditions and regulatory contexts
   

We are also interested in those with experience of education, training, mentoring or professional development within the profession, who understand how competence is built as well as how it is assessed.

Experience of RICS assessment processes, whether as a candidate, assessor, counsellor, or in another assessment role, giving you first-hand understanding of how the framework operates in practice (and with an open mind as to how it can be improved), would be particularly desirable.

We welcome applications from members across all grades of membership, including those who can bring more recent and diverse experience of the profession's entry and progression pathways.

Full eligibility criteria are set out in the Candidate Pack.

About the Qualifications and Assessment Committee

The QAC is a permanent sub-committee of the RICS Standards and Regulation Board, operating under delegated authority and reporting to the SRB. It comprises four RICS members and four independent (non-RICS) members, plus a Chartered Member as Chair.

It provides oversight and assurance of professional competence, education and qualification standards, and entry and admission to the profession, ensuring that RICS' assessment framework remains robust, transparent and globally consistent.

Practical details

• Remuneration: This is a voluntary role. RICS members serve without remuneration in accordance with RICS governance policy. Reasonable travel and subsistence expenses will be reimbursed.
• Time commitment: Approximately 10 days per year.
• Location: Meetings are primarily virtual, with one in-person meeting per year in London or Birmingham. For members based outside the UK, some international travel may be required.
• Term: Up to three years, with the possibility of reappointment for a second term (six years maximum)
• Interviews: Panel interviews via MS Teams, Wednesday 2 September and Thursday 3 September 2026.
   

How to apply

To ensure independence during this recruitment process, Michelle Paoloni of House Recruitment is supporting RICS on this appointment.

Submit a copy of your CV and supporting statement to RICS@houserecruitment.co.uk

A full Candidate Pack is available for review here.

Closing date:  12:00 (UK time) Friday 24 July 2026.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

RICS is committed to building a Committee that reflects the global profession it serves. The QAC has historically benefited from a diverse membership, including gender balance, individuals from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds and members from a wide range of geographic locations, and we are committed to maintaining and strengthening that diversity.

We welcome applications from members of all backgrounds and particularly encourage those currently underrepresented in senior governance roles to apply. Applications are welcomed from members based anywhere in the world.

All appointments are made on merit, underpinned by a commitment to fair and inclusive processes throughout.