Careers:COURSES

The Engineering Council's recently published policy Standards and routes to registration for qualified engineers is a major step in the process of upgrading the profession as a whole. For Chartered Engineers this process will evolve mainly through changes in the content of degree courses in engineering subjects so that they are more relevant and integrated with modern engineering practice. Improvements in the industrial training of young engineers will also make a major contribution. The new policy is designed to improve the education and training of engineers and establish common minimum standards within higher education, the engineering institutions, and industry. It is said that many British engineers never bother to seek professional qualifications largely because they have not always been a necessary prerequisite to a successful career. In future, when these qualifications represent high standards of attainment, they may well take on much more importance. The fulfilment of the education, training and experience provisions for registration will be seen more and more as the accepted hallmark of competence.