regulating access to the professions: a uk...

© Engineering Council 2013

Regulating Access to the Professions:

a UK perspective

Jon Prichard

Chief Executive, The Engineering Council


Professional regulation

A Profession is an occupation in which an individual uses an

intellectual skill based on an established body of knowledge and

practice to provide a specialised service in a defined area, exercising

professional judgment in accordance with a code of ethics and in the

public interest.

UK Inter-professional Group Position Statement on

Professional Regulation, revised November 2002.


UK Regulatory framework

Professional Regulation exists to protect consumers and society at

large. In the UK it is part of a spectrum of regulatory mechanisms.

Government legislates for the public interest.

Consumers have recourse to civil or criminal law.

Employers are responsible for the proper management of

employees and supervision of their work.

Professional bodies set standards of competence and

professional conduct, keep registers of qualifications and titles

awarded, investigate complaints and impose sanctions.

BSI as the national standards body sets product standards and

standards of practice.

Individual professionals take personal responsibility for their

own performance, maintaining their competence and high

standards of professional conduct.


Professional Regulation Spectrum

Trust

Verification

Unregulated Very Regulated

Medicine

Law

Architecture

Journalism

Engineering

Religion

Science

Accountancy

Teaching

Computing


Regulation of the Engineering Profession in the UK

• Self-regulation occurs when a professional body enters into an

agreement with government to formally regulate the activities of its

members.

• In the UK, this agreement traditionally takes the form of a Royal Charter.

• A Royal Charter provides legal protection Professional Titles.


About the Engineering Council

• First Chartered Title (Civil Engineer) adopted in 1922.

• Council of Engineering Institutions founded in1964 to agree common

standards for Professional Engineers across all disciplines.

• Royal Charter granted to the Engineering Council in1981.

• Holds the UK register of EngTech, IEng, CEng and ICTTech.

• 235,000 Registrants.

• Designated by UK Government as a Competent Authority.

• Professional Titles listed in Annex 1 to Directive 2005/36.

• Engineering Council is a council of the institutions.

• 36 Professional Engineering Institutions licensed to assess and

register individual professionals.


Access to Protected Titles

• Registration permits use of a Protected Title.

• Registration is voluntary.

• Registration requires demonstration of competence.

• Register sections correspond to levels (c), (d) and (e) of Article 11

of Directive 2005/36.

• The institutions, through the Engineering Council, set, maintain

and review the UK Standard for Professional Engineering

Competence (UK-SPEC).

• Competence combines knowledge, skills and abilities gained

through formal and informal learning and professional

development.

• Applied engineering experience is a pre-requisite.

• Membership of the institution provides support for continuing

professional development and compliance with Codes of Practice

and Conduct.


Start

Assessment of

Professional

Development

Assessment

of

Experiential

Learning

Exemplifying

Qualification

Structured

Professional

Development

Assessment of

Competence

Route to Professional Assessment


Benefits of the UK System

• Competence of Professionals is key to public assurance.

• The Profession has the knowledge and expertise to set and assess

the standards of competence.

• The Profession accredits degrees and is responsible for the

standards of engineering education programmes.

• Protected Titles are restricted to those who meet the required level

of competence.

• Admission relies on professional expertise and peer review.

• Voluntary participation demonstrates personal commitment.

• Continued registration requires maintenance of competence and

good standing.

• The words engineer and engineering are widely used, but only

individuals on the Register can legally use the Protected Titles.


Benefits to the Engineering Sector

• The UK engineering sector employs circa 5.4 million people.

• Of these, circa 2 million are in roles requiring engineering skills and

800,000 are in professional roles.

• 235,000 professional engineers and technicians are registered, the

majority of these (178,000) are Chartered Engineers.

• Around 18% of registrants are outside the UK.

• No accurate figures available for foreign engineers working in UK.

• In 2011, 89 applications were made under the Directive.

• In 2012, 12% of enquiries to the UK National Contact Point related

to engineering.

• Voluntary regulation minimises barriers while provided a

mechanism to quality assure engineers.

International registration showing change from 2011

Canada: 2,712

-1.99 %

Australia: 6,386

+3.85%

Hong Kong: 11,405

+0.52%

Ireland: 1,411

-8.55%

USA: 3,718

+1.35%

New Zealand: 1,775

+0.11%

Registrants in

45 countries

UK: 194,803

+0.52%

Malaysia: 1,547

+3.62%

Singapore: 1,502

-1.18%

South Africa: 1,230

-7.87%


Engineering population

Registrant

Member

Population

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

TotalCEng

IEngEngTech


Benefits for employers

• Minimal barriers when recruiting (European) engineers.

• Employers engage with the profession to set professional

standards.

• Employers and their clients can have confidence in the quality of

engineering professionals.

• Registration status can be verified.

• Protected Titles are recognised worldwide.

• Statutory regulations reserve specific activities in certain sectors to

competent persons - registration of professionals can demonstrate

compliance.


Transparency exercise

• The Engineering Council welcomes the transparency exercise.

• Competent Authorities may find it useful to apply the principles set

out by the UK Better Regulation Task Force:

Transparency

Accountability

Targeting

Consistency

Proportionality

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