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© Engineering Council 2013
Regulating Access to the Professions:
a UK perspective
Jon Prichard
Chief Executive, The Engineering Council
© Engineering Council 2013
Professional regulation
A Profession is an occupation in which an individual uses an
intellectual skill based on an established body of knowledge and
practice to provide a specialised service in a defined area, exercising
professional judgment in accordance with a code of ethics and in the
public interest.
UK Inter-professional Group Position Statement on
Professional Regulation, revised November 2002.
© Engineering Council 2013
UK Regulatory framework
Professional Regulation exists to protect consumers and society at
large. In the UK it is part of a spectrum of regulatory mechanisms.
Government legislates for the public interest.
Consumers have recourse to civil or criminal law.
Employers are responsible for the proper management of
employees and supervision of their work.
Professional bodies set standards of competence and
professional conduct, keep registers of qualifications and titles
awarded, investigate complaints and impose sanctions.
BSI as the national standards body sets product standards and
standards of practice.
Individual professionals take personal responsibility for their
own performance, maintaining their competence and high
standards of professional conduct.
© Engineering Council 2013
Professional Regulation Spectrum
Trust
Verification
Unregulated Very Regulated
Medicine
Law
Architecture
Journalism
Engineering
Religion
Science
Accountancy
Teaching
Computing
© Engineering Council 2013
Regulation of the Engineering Profession in the UK
• Self-regulation occurs when a professional body enters into an
agreement with government to formally regulate the activities of its
members.
• In the UK, this agreement traditionally takes the form of a Royal Charter.
• A Royal Charter provides legal protection Professional Titles.
© Engineering Council 2013
About the Engineering Council
• First Chartered Title (Civil Engineer) adopted in 1922.
• Council of Engineering Institutions founded in1964 to agree common
standards for Professional Engineers across all disciplines.
• Royal Charter granted to the Engineering Council in1981.
• Holds the UK register of EngTech, IEng, CEng and ICTTech.
• 235,000 Registrants.
• Designated by UK Government as a Competent Authority.
• Professional Titles listed in Annex 1 to Directive 2005/36.
• Engineering Council is a council of the institutions.
• 36 Professional Engineering Institutions licensed to assess and
register individual professionals.
© Engineering Council 2013
Access to Protected Titles
• Registration permits use of a Protected Title.
• Registration is voluntary.
• Registration requires demonstration of competence.
• Register sections correspond to levels (c), (d) and (e) of Article 11
of Directive 2005/36.
• The institutions, through the Engineering Council, set, maintain
and review the UK Standard for Professional Engineering
Competence (UK-SPEC).
• Competence combines knowledge, skills and abilities gained
through formal and informal learning and professional
development.
• Applied engineering experience is a pre-requisite.
• Membership of the institution provides support for continuing
professional development and compliance with Codes of Practice
and Conduct.
© Engineering Council 2013
Start
Assessment of
Professional
Development
Assessment
of
Experiential
Learning
Exemplifying
Qualification
Structured
Professional
Development
Assessment of
Competence
Route to Professional Assessment
© Engineering Council 2013
Benefits of the UK System
• Competence of Professionals is key to public assurance.
• The Profession has the knowledge and expertise to set and assess
the standards of competence.
• The Profession accredits degrees and is responsible for the
standards of engineering education programmes.
• Protected Titles are restricted to those who meet the required level
of competence.
• Admission relies on professional expertise and peer review.
• Voluntary participation demonstrates personal commitment.
• Continued registration requires maintenance of competence and
good standing.
• The words engineer and engineering are widely used, but only
individuals on the Register can legally use the Protected Titles.
© Engineering Council 2013
Benefits to the Engineering Sector
• The UK engineering sector employs circa 5.4 million people.
• Of these, circa 2 million are in roles requiring engineering skills and
800,000 are in professional roles.
• 235,000 professional engineers and technicians are registered, the
majority of these (178,000) are Chartered Engineers.
• Around 18% of registrants are outside the UK.
• No accurate figures available for foreign engineers working in UK.
• In 2011, 89 applications were made under the Directive.
• In 2012, 12% of enquiries to the UK National Contact Point related
to engineering.
• Voluntary regulation minimises barriers while provided a
mechanism to quality assure engineers.
International registration showing change from 2011
Canada: 2,712
-1.99 %
Australia: 6,386
+3.85%
Hong Kong: 11,405
+0.52%
Ireland: 1,411
-8.55%
USA: 3,718
+1.35%
New Zealand: 1,775
+0.11%
Registrants in
45 countries
UK: 194,803
+0.52%
Malaysia: 1,547
+3.62%
Singapore: 1,502
-1.18%
South Africa: 1,230
-7.87%
© Engineering Council 2013
Engineering population
Registrant
Member
Population
0
500000
1000000
1500000
2000000
TotalCEng
IEngEngTech
© Engineering Council 2013
Benefits for employers
• Minimal barriers when recruiting (European) engineers.
• Employers engage with the profession to set professional
standards.
• Employers and their clients can have confidence in the quality of
engineering professionals.
• Registration status can be verified.
• Protected Titles are recognised worldwide.
• Statutory regulations reserve specific activities in certain sectors to
competent persons - registration of professionals can demonstrate
compliance.