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Table of Contents
Background
After I published my blog The Historical Evolution of Professional Engineering Licensure..., I was asked "how is the profession of engineering regulated in other parts of the world?" This query set me on a mission to investigate the subject of engineering registrations across the globe.
Documenting this for every country in a blog is beyond scope, therefore, I will distill the information and present it for the countries that do this process differently than how we do it in the USA. This has led me to learning about the registration and licensure process pursued in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Germany, and the United Kingdom. As a bonus, I subsequently discovered that these five countries together contribute to more than half of the world's total annual production of engineers! This provided a sheen of completeness to this study.
As stated in my blog, "the practice of professional engineering in USA is highly regulated and the title 'professional engineer' is legally protected." Each state assumes the authority to formally grant a professional engineering (PE) license to an individual. This professional engineering license in the USA is by and large obtained by fulfilling the following four requirements:
- Obtain a four-year Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET)-credited college/university degree in engineering.
- Complete the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination administered by the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) and qualify oneself as an Engineer-In-Training (EIT).
- Accumulate the specific years of engineering experience in the chosen engineering discipline for which the PE license is being sought.
- Pass the Principles and Practice in Engineering (PPE) examination administered by the NCEES.
It is interesting to note that of all the countries surveyed, Iran has adopted the above USA (NCEES) model for PE licensure to a T. Iran's NCEES equivalnt, the National Organization for Examinations and Training (NOET) (referred to as Sanjesh in Persian) conducts the FE and PPE examinations. The only variation is that the licensure of the PEs is governed centrally by Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, whereas in the US, PEs are registered by individual states. Mohandess Payeh 1 and Mohandess Payeh 2 are the equivalent titles used for PE and Engineer-in-Training (EIT), respectively1.
Trivia: Iran is among one of the ten largest producers of engineers per year in the world, 70% of whom are women.2.
Professional Engineering Registration across the Globe
1. India
In India, engineers with a bachelor's or master's degree in engineering or technology from a university are allowed to practice as consulting engineers. However, to submit public plans and drawings for approval and documentation, the consulting engineers must be licensed or registered or chartered with respective municipalities, regardless of their disciplines or area of practice.
The Institution of Engineers (India) (IE)(I) was granted the British Royal Charter in 1935 by which the aforementioned degreed engineers and any Life Corporate Member of the IE(I) can be admitted as a Chartered Engineer (CEng) (India). A special certificate specifying as CEng (India) can be obtained by India engineers and engineers from other countries with the payment of appropriate fees.
The IE(I) also offers registration as a Professional Engineer (PE) (India) and international professional engineer (PE (Int'l) to member-engineers having seven years of active experience post-academic degree.
2. Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, engineers holding engineering degrees from college/university accredited by the Institute of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL) and with adequate training and experience are eligible to become Chartered Engineer in Sri Lanka (CEng (SL)). IESL, the apex body of engineering in Sri Lanka, awards credentials such as the CEng (SL), which enables one to practice as a licensed engineer in the country.
The title "engineer" is not regulated. However, per the Engineering Council Act No. 4 of 2017 (Act), all engineering practitioners in Sri Lanka need to be registered with the Engineering Council of Sri Lanka to practice. Failure to register with the Engineering Council will result in punitive damages that includes fines and prison time. Additionally, the Act prevents foreign qualified engineers from engineering practice in Sri Lanka3.
3. Pakistan
In Pakistan, engineering is regulated at the federal level by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) via the PEC Act 19764 and the subsequent PEC Continued Professional Development (CPD) Bylaws 2008 (CPD 2008). Thanks to the CPD 2008 law, starting July 2010, the graduate engineers would follow the US model of requiring the passing of Engineering Practice Examination (EPE) (equivalent to the NCEES' PPE examination), preceded by at least five years of relevant work experience and accumulation of at least 17 CPD points (in lieu of the NCEES' FE examination) 5.
The PEC has introduced a progressive and balanced CPD points system, which encourages participation in CPD activities that will further work experience like guest lectures, publishing research, authoring books, and charitable engineering work over and above on-the-job experience.
4. Germany
In Germany, the award of the academic title Dipl. Ing signifies the completion of the academic engineering education-but not the license to practice engineering. Dipl. Ing does not confer licensing by the government and therefore is not equivalent to the steps of licensing (i.e., references, work experience and written examinations) conducted in countries like USA, UK, or Iran. However, the designation Dipl. Ing is recognized by FEANI and as the prerequisite for registration as Eur Ing.
The international organization with headquarters in Germany - Federal Association of Higher Professions for Technology, Economy and Design (Bundesverband hoherer Berufe der Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung e.V.) awards the title BVT to its members who qualify as professional engineering technologists. Such members are recognized as State Certified Engineer with the post-nominal letters "BVT."
The BVT should
- Have a minimum 2,400-hour college diploma in engineering or technology;
- Complete a 42-month apprenticeship program;
- Have two years of relevant experience; and
- Pass the state examination.
In the United Kingdom, the title most analogous to the PE (as referred to in the USA) is the "Chartered Engineer, CEng". This post-nominal title is not granted through an examination process, but the procedure to attain it is rigorous, nonetheless. The elements of this procedure are as follows 6:
- A graduate engineer must undergo a three-four year supervised and structured on-the-job training. The approved education is typically at a master's level.
- The engineer submits two written papers for evaluation and grading, which comprise a multi-hour interview, followed by a 15-minute technical presentation of one of the papers.
- Finally, the engineer writes two 1500-word extempore reports in three hours on two questions-one technical and one professional, which are used to demonstrate his or her technical and commercial leadership and management competencies.
The successful passing of all the above elements grants the acceptance as a member of their institution and the CEng title.
A CEng of UK is entitled to register through the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI) as a European Engineer and use the pre-nominal designation: Eur Ing. This is fortunately unaffected by Brexit, because FEANI, which administers the European Engineer qualification existed before the formation of the European Union (EU). So, the Eur Ing title, which is widely recognized across Europe and internationally, has remained unaffected as FEANI is a European and not an EU organization.
A CEng may also carry post-nominal letters specific to their specialist engineering institute, such as MIET (Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology), recognized under EU Directive 2005/36/EC.
Note: PEng (UK) is another post-nominal title used by engineers who are members of Society of Professional Engineers UK and should not be confused or equated with CEng.
Conclusion
The above assessment of the professional engineering licensure over a large cross-section of world engineering community clearly shows that the path to professional licensure is varied, with countries like India and Sri Lanka on one end of the spectrum relying on membership in their apex engineering bodies paving the path for registration/licensure and countries like Germany and United Kingdom requiring rigor in the registration/licensure process for the accomplishment of the "Charter" or "Professional" Engineer title.
The awareness of the variation in the registration process is paramount for the global engineering community, when design developed in one part of the world is implemented in another part of the world. This research also sheds light to the fact the NCEES model for PE licensure in USA is popular with the world's engineering community at large.
Given our increasing global interaction and outsourcing of technical work, should the popular US (NCEES) professional engineering licensure model be made universal? What do you think?
References
1 "National Organization for Examination and Training (NOET) of Iran" sanjesh.org.
2 World Economic Forum 2015/UNESCO, Institute of Statistics/Forbes Statista
3 Engineering Council Act No. 4 of 2017, Certified on 9th March 2017, Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.
4 PEC Act, 1976, Published in the Gazette of Pakistan Extraordinary dated the January 14, 1976, Amended up to 1st December 2016.
5 Professional Development of Engineers (Procedures and Guidelines; Engineering Professional Development Committee (EPDC), Pakistan Engineering Council, 2009 (Updated up to December 2017).
6 Engineering Council Chartered Engineer (CEng); https://www.engc.org.uk/
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