Can someone from the Registrations Department update us on the progression of the Technician Council and any implications to I Eng? The news from the Engineering Council website talks about formation in 2012 then a couple of meetings.
It is interesting to reprise this discussion 5 years later. Supported in part by the philanthropy of the Gatsby Foundation Eng Tech Now has been established and is led by Blane Judd, who is an IET Fellow. http://www.engtechnow.com/
Many of the forum postings were critical of Engineering Council with a particular focus on IEng issues. These IEng issues were not the remit of the Technician Council.
Since then the severe decline in the number of newly registering IEng was arrested, but many of the issues raised by forum posts remain either unresolved or just an opinion on history.
The “registration department” of IET (Registration and Standards) provides a service to IET members under license from Engineering Council. In addition to my duties in that department, I championed the cause of IEng at every opportunity and many of the more polite elements of that are a matter of record.
I spoke to a 60 year old Technician last week who was considering registration, his level of skill, his knowledge of how things can be done in his field, the productive contribution he has made to his employer and to society were equally valuable to someone who might have been recognised as an IEng or CEng. He therefore deserved and received the same measure of respect.
Incidentally, I applied to the IEETE and was granted membership of The IEEIE. I was therefore minded to look at the proportions of registrants in the different categories compared to 2013. All had fallen in absolute numbers with IEng the worst affected, the proportion of Technicians is similar but there has been about a 16% “swing” from IEng to CEng. This swing could soon be magnified by the cohort effect of so many IEng registrants being in their 50s & 60s. Personally I would like to see much stronger action to emphasise the value and long contribution of this important group of professional engineers.
The Institution of Electrical & Electronic Technician Engineers changed it name to The Institution of Electrical & Electronic Incorporated Engineers.
There were several smaller bodies representing Incorporated Engineers and Technicians including a Mechanical equivalent.The merger of these bodies to become the Institution of Incorporated Engineers created the fourth largest constituency of Engineering Council registrants.
At the time Incorporated Engineers were described as "different but equally valuable" since they were almost exclusively drawn from the tradition of an Apprenticeship with part-time higher qualifications such as Higher National Certificates. This typically produced a "more practical" engineer ideally suited to many mainstream engineering situations. A the time of the name change many Chartered Engineers had actually traveled a similar path in the 1960s & 70s, but successive inflation of the academic "requirements" placed CEng in a more "academically elite" space . More recently, better processes for valuing work-based learning and the "competency based" UK-SPEC have changed that landscape somewhat, but this is debated in a different forum.
In a Technician context my challenge to the profession would be - how do we create an environment where Technicians are able to engage more fully and equally? It appears that most do not see the relevance of the current representative structure. Too often, I also observe patronising attitudes that seem to position Technicians as "third class". This is wrong in my opinion, many Technicians are valued by their employers to such an extent that they earn more than many Chartered Engineers, a good number are also proprietors of successful small businesses.
