I have two mentees who are in the process of applying for CEng registration. They submitted their applications a couple of months ago, but the assessments have not yet been carried out. Could you please advise on the current lead time for CEng application assessments? Many Thanks.
Registration delays are justified, very rationally. To some degree, it has always been that way. We’ve read of the detriment, so surely, we need some reflection and uncomfortable critical thinking. Who benefits from it being this way ?
I’d draw on the work of Max Horkheimer. Instrumental Reason has made a virtue of a process for how any PEI delivers Registration.
The productive power output is not the process itself, nor a “service”, nor is it a brand or identity for Applicants.
The OBJECTIVE, the PURPOSE, is to equip Applicants with the aspirations, alignment and credentials, the leverage, to allow them (and, don’t forget, the volunteer peers who help them) access, influence and sustenance in building Building a Better (and Safer) World.
With that in mind, many years ago the “Alternative Route” became acceptable alongside education.
Written applications are often aided by AI/AMI/AGI and sometimes this shows up at PRI.
Even the well-educated sometimes fail to show ALL the UKSPEC Competencies at PRI.
So, simple question:
The Competencies themselves are in fact subjectively selected (I can argue that separately), though objectively assessed and with little room for dispensation.
Competence can only be verified at PRI.
There are alternatives to education – experience and development.
Why then are we spending so much time verifying educational courses when a judgement that a career history might be sufficient for Assessment and PRI ?
"There are alternatives to education – experience and development."
Not in terms of UKSpec there are not. Professional Registration takes two elements, Education + Demonstrable Competence. Education can range from nothing formal and all demonstrated through work based learning and (in the case of very little quals, most likely a Technical Report review). This is not going to change with UKSpec5 ....
Why then are we spending so much time verifying educational courses when a judgement that a career history might be sufficient for Assessment and PRI ?
Because the EC process is to approve that education elements are met and then go on to assess competence. They are not (and really should not) be assessed at the same time in PRI
Why then are we spending so much time verifying educational courses when a judgement that a career history might be sufficient for Assessment and PRI ?
Because the candidate needs to be shown to have Underpinning Knowledge and Understanding (UK&U). Yes, this can be shown through multiple paths, and if the candidate cannot clearly show this at the initial review (typically because they have come up through a non-academic route) then further evidence will be asked for. But what evidence will be asked for depends on what that route was - there are a huge range of possibilities. And that's what that first pass review sorts out.
The PRI can then be as short as it is, as the credibility of the UK&U has already been considered.
I've helped applicants from a huge range of backgrounds and seen this work really well. Whatever your background and career path, if you have the potential to pass PRI now this process ensures that by the time you get to PRI you have been helped to make that UK&U clear - whether you have an HNC or a PHD.
Please let's also be clear, this process has worked well and quickly up to recent years. Whatever the reasons for the delays now, and I fully agree with the frustration, we know the process itself can deliver - and has in the past delivered - results in reasonable times. What is needed is to get that process back working again.
I have had my application in since Feb this year, twice I have emailed the IET to ask about any progress and I have been sent the same generic email to basically say ‘it’s in the queue’. I asked about the current wait times but didn’t get a reply.
It’s a real shame that there is zero communication from the IET in regards to the current wait times. I’m not sure if other organisations such as the IMECHE or INCOSE are suffering from similar backlogs?
Hopefully, I will hear something back soon!
So look at the latest Professional Registration Quartetly Update on IET.tv (https://tv.theiet.org/video/professional-registration-quarterly-update-q-a--8th-june-/154bdec1-4aa7-49c0-a4ce-cfc76959ce55)
As for the other PEI's, they are on the whole very much smaller (the IMechE is the largest of 'the rest' I believe but even they don't come close to the number of applications the IET processes which, as the video shows, the IET is processing circa 4,000 applications this year across not just IEng and CEng who in total will be just shy of 3,000 this year. That averages 250 a month (circa 12 every single working day of the year). Non of the checks are that quick and whilst there are some discussions about levels of automation possible in the future with AI tools they have GDPR challenges as well as accuracy ones.
It is frustrating, but the best advice for any applicant is to read and understand UKSpec (get some PRA assistance if needed) and to have a really clear application. Once the admin staff check is done the delays are down to the assessment process and that is all done by us, member volunteers who are professionally registered. The IET has recruited a lot in the past 9 months and the training and rollout of them is going at pace but it will never drop the wait time down to 1 or 2 months which is where I think people hope. The admin checks (unless a level of automation can be found that is reliable and secure) will likely take 3-4 at the very best and longer with more complicated education paths.
If staff replied to every query of 'where am I and how long', for even half the applications that would swamp them and increase times.
It is frustrating for us volunteer assessors and interviewers too, but it is a pipeline
The admin checks (unless a level of automation can be found that is reliable and secure) will likely take 3-4 at the very best and longer with more complicated education paths.
Going to the subject of discussion as it concerns the wait time. The quote illustrates a possible way out, the use of secured and reliable AI tool for the process will be quite helpful.
Regards!
just to be clear here .. I am not staff, but privy to some of the inner workings and discussions as I sit on RG... don't take my words literally as fact, they are an informed estimate in time ...
Okay thanks for the clarifications!
IfSE are a much smaller institution. Relative to the number of members, I suspect the number of assessors is much higher then the larger institutions. We also have the advantage that we are generally Systems Engineers assessing other Systems Engineers. The wide remit of The IET adds complexity into matching up the candidate with the right assessors.
It still takes time to get through the process even then, as we all have busy lives and you have to allow a reasonable amount of time to complete the assessment. let alone finding a slot for an interview.
And some of the smaller PEI's run a batch system where applications are accepted and stored to a window 2 or 3 times a year so assessors and interviewers dont do drips.... there is a published (I think) schedule) so inside that window it is relatively speedy as all the assessors are lined up and geared to a short window.
But the IfSE is 1% the size of the IET !!!
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