Shaping the future of engineering - Standards Matter
Published: 28 November, 2022
This week marks the start of the Engineering Council’s next 40 years of setting and maintaining standards, following its incorporation by Royal Charter in November 1981 to ensure society continues to have confidence and trust in the engineering profession.
Engineering Council CEO Alasdair Coates said “As the world faces significant, complex challenges and technology continues to develop at pace, the work of engineers is vital in shaping our future.
In that future, voluntary regulation is important because standards matter - the public has a right to expect engineers to be able to demonstrate their competence and behave in an ethical, sustainable way.”
The Engineering Council says:
The most recent Ipsos MORI Veracity Index shows engineers are the second only to nurses as the most trusted profession. 87% of those polled trust engineers to tell the truth – a reputation we as a profession must continue to earn. There are currently over quarter of a million professionally registered engineers and technicians on the Engineering Council’s Register.
We are proud to say that every Chartered Engineer (CEng), Incorporated Engineer (IEng), Engineering Technician (EngTech) and Information and Communications Technician (ICTTech) has not only demonstrated their competence against an independent standard. They have also committed to maintaining and enhancing that competence through carrying out Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and to complying with a Code of Conduct. Employers, clients and members of the public can verify an individual’s Engineering Council registration through our online tool, RegCheck.
The maintenance of standards for public benefit is at the core of the Engineering Council’s purpose. During this 40th anniversary year, we have:
• made significant progress in developing Higher-Risk Buildings registration, to support the demonstration of competence in this safety-critical area
• established our Diversity & Inclusion Working Group and begun work sharing good practice on reasonable adjustments for neurodiverse engineers
• signed new Admissions Pathway Agreements with Spain and continued to work with international bodies to facilitate the mobility and recognition of professional engineers and technicians
• launched our ‘Engineering Ethics: Maintaining society’s trust in the engineering profession’ report, published jointly with the Royal Academy of Engineering, and embedded the work of the Engineering Ethics Reference Group
• successfully been recertified against the ISO 9001:2015 standard, which is a benchmark for quality management
• following discussions with His Majesty King Charles, we have worked with the professional engineering community to provide support for refugee engineers, including signposting from our website and the development of a mentoring and work placement programme
• celebrated the achievement of the thousands of engineers and technicians who became professionally registered this year, having been assessed against our independent, internationally-recognised standard.
There is no legal restriction on who can call themselves an engineer in the UK, because engineering is not regulated by statute (with the exception of some safety-critical areas, such as aircraft maintenance, gas fitting and railway signalling). But only people successfully assessed against our internationally-recognised standard can use the legally protected professional titles awarded by the Engineering Council.
At the end of our 40th year, we look to the future set out in ‘Advancing Regulation’, our 2025 Strategy, as we work to:
• support, develop and encourage a more diverse and inclusive profession
• support a more digitally innovative profession
• maintain, develop and promote an internationally respected standard
• strengthen the sustainable and ethical core of the engineering profession.
As the regulator for the engineering profession in the UK, we move forward in delivering public benefit by maintaining standards that evolve as the practice of engineering and society’s expectations do, supporting a safe, sustainable and ethical world.
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