Occupational closure

What this means in practical terms, is that an architect or physician, for example, will firstly be a university graduate in their main subject, second, will have passed entrance examinations to join a recognised professional body and thirdly, will also be licensed to practise medicine or architecture, usually also obtained through sitting examinations.

Occupational closure has both benefit and potential harm (to society), which must be counterbalanced.

The potential harm concerns the problems of credentialism and educational inflation (forms of rent-seeking) and even the creation of red tape–induced regional or nationwide staffing shortages.

An optimal balance must be sought by administrators, regulators, and (in some cases) legislators.

[1][2] The origin of this process is said to have been with guilds during the Middle Ages, when 'professionals' fought for exclusive rights to practice their crafts or trades as journeymen, and to engage unpaid apprentices.