Whither the CEI?

There have not been many developments of note in the organization of the engineering profession during the last ten years. One notable exception was the formation of the Council of Engineering Institutions, originally under the name of the Engineering Institutions Joint Council (EIJC). The charter for the CEI was rushed through with decent haste and its presentation was the occasion for a Royal Ceremony; prestige indeed. It is all the more regrettable that having started well, the CEI seems to be running into difficulties, mainly on grounds of definition of its future role. No one yet is able to say whether the CEI is the instrument of the thirteen institutions which form it or whether it is their master.