Progression to CEng status

Letter response from Phil Jane, Chairman of the Academic Assessment Committee at the IMechE

I read with interest the letter in the last issue of PE where Tony Marshallsay felt there had been a “forced demise of the progression to CEng status up through the ranks.” IMechE is very conscious that this perception exists in some quarters, but in fact there have been significant recent developments to address the situation of suitable engineers who do not have the required formal academic qualifications. The Engineering Council have updated UKSpec to clarify that “experiential learning” can be used to establish that an engineer has the required depth of knowledge and understanding and as a result IMechE has developed a Career Learning Assessment (CLA) to implement this route for both CEng and IEng applicants. Prior to this development, the only practical route for experienced engineers without the formal qualifications was to produce a suitable technical report. This was not a straightforward route and an average of only 5 engineers per year successfully completed through this process. In 2011, the first full year of the CLA, 145 engineers satisfied the academic requirements for CEng or IEng through this new route and are proceeding to Professional Review to gain professional registration.

Making the process more straightforward does not mean that standards have been reduced. The requirement for engineers to demonstrate that they have the depth of technical knowledge expected of someone with a Masters degree in the case of CEng or Bachelors in the case of IEng still remains. The process is not about competence or responsibility levels, it is an examination of the applicant’s depth of understanding of engineering principles that enables them to successfully execute technical tasks that are not guided by standard practice. This has been an important message that has been communicated with great emphasis; lack of attention to this aspect has resulted in a number of unsuccessful applications and an even greater number of applications where further information has been requested or the candidate has been invited to attend an interview. That said, it does make it possible for all engineers who have increased their knowledge to the required level in the course of their careers to become professionally registered engineers. The CLA route is available to members who judge that they can demonstrate these requirements and, in the first instance, they should contact the Membership department for more details.

Phil Jane, Chairman, Academic Assessment Committee, IMechE

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