The number of newly registered incorporated engineers continues to decline. The strategy of the Engineering Council is clearly not aligned to supporting the engineering technologist professional. Given the governments commitment to technical education the IET should create their own professional register to provide a relevant standard. It is obvious the current UKSPEC standard lacks credibility in terms of the IEng grade
Just wanted to add that I think the "gold standard" issue is manageable if we consider this parallel: do those of us with bachelor's degrees feel "second class" because we don't have PhDs? Or, do those of us who are engineers feel second class because we're not Technical Directors? Of course the answer in both cases is that some people do, and we hear exactly the same complaints about "that chap with a PhD / that Technical Director can't wire a plug" as we do leveled at CEngs - as you say, that's human nature. But in general it is accepted that different people fulfill different roles. Very few people would suggest that all graduates should be called PhDs or all engineers should be called Tech Dirs because otherwise they would feel second class. Of course that's not to belittle the fact that the problem here is that the IEng / CEng distinction as it stands is maybe too subtle.
To continue this parallel, no-one would be surprised if the MD of a company had a BEng (and was proud of it) whilst their Technical Director had a PhD (and was proud of it). It would be excellent, and I think perfectly achievable, for that same MD to be proud of their IEng. We've just got to get past this idea that CEng is correlated with organisational seniority.
I must stop reading these replies...I'm supposed to be writing an IET conference paper...
Just wanted to add that I think the "gold standard" issue is manageable if we consider this parallel: do those of us with bachelor's degrees feel "second class" because we don't have PhDs? Or, do those of us who are engineers feel second class because we're not Technical Directors? Of course the answer in both cases is that some people do, and we hear exactly the same complaints about "that chap with a PhD / that Technical Director can't wire a plug" as we do leveled at CEngs - as you say, that's human nature. But in general it is accepted that different people fulfill different roles. Very few people would suggest that all graduates should be called PhDs or all engineers should be called Tech Dirs because otherwise they would feel second class. Of course that's not to belittle the fact that the problem here is that the IEng / CEng distinction as it stands is maybe too subtle.
To continue this parallel, no-one would be surprised if the MD of a company had a BEng (and was proud of it) whilst their Technical Director had a PhD (and was proud of it). It would be excellent, and I think perfectly achievable, for that same MD to be proud of their IEng. We've just got to get past this idea that CEng is correlated with organisational seniority.
I must stop reading these replies...I'm supposed to be writing an IET conference paper...
