Engineering Council registration has always provided employers with the confidence that applicants have the required knowledge, skills and behaviours to make a valuable contribution to any technical team (with role specific training and support). The sector has always supported and encouraged registration with members, but one single change that was made a number of years ago has had a significant impact on take up. During a review of qualification levels associated with registration, it was decided that the required level for IEng, should move from level 4, to level 6.
This meant that the memorandum’s of understanding that some employers had with Institutes ceased to be valid. Rather than changing job specifications, and introducing even more hurdles to recruitment, employers largely stepped away from promoting the IEng standard.
The introduction of experiential pathways to registration has helped to change perceptions, and employers are once again seeking ways for their employees to become registered. The value of academic knowledge of engineering subjects for any engineer goes without saying. However, understanding does not have to demonstrated with a specific qualification.
Particularly if a qualification held at an appropriate level is not directly relevant to the discipline and role of the engineer. The genuine value that should be considered is the knowledge that is being applied to enable an individual to reach robust conclusions and make critical engineering decisions. This is where the Experiential pathway comes into its own.
Working with employers within the TIC sector, members of the BES are currently developing a learning programme to support IEng applicants, specific to the role of engineers who carry out Thorough Examinations. The goal being to be able to re-introduce the memorandums of understanding that had been revoked and provide clearer pathways to registration.
The academic programmes are designed to support engineering decision making at the appropriate level without including content that is not relevant. This will reduce the amount of time required to complete the learning activity, without undermining the value of the rich learning experience. Once developed, we hope to have the programme accredited, making the routes to registration once again an attractive and viable solution to support recruitment.