In the United Kingdom, a Chartered Engineer is a professional engineer registered with Engineering Council UK (the British regulatory body for engineers). Chartered Engineers are usually degree-qualified and have spent at least four years in professional practice. The title Chartered Engineer is protected by civil law (along with the titles Incorporated Engineer and Engineering Technician).
Qualifications required for registration
According to Engineering Council UK, Chartered Engineers "are characterised by their ability to develop appropriate solutions to engineering problems, using new or existing technologies, through innovation, creativity and change. They might develop and apply new technologies, promote advanced designs and design methods, introduce new and more efficient production techniques, marketing and construction concepts, pioneer new engineering services and management methods. Chartered Engineers are variously engaged in technical and commercial leadership and possess interpersonal skills."
For registration, it is necessary for candidates to demonstrate that they are professionally competent through education, training and professional practice. Most chartered engineers have honours degrees in engineering, science or mathematics, and the latest regulations require new registrants to have a MEng degree or complete a postgraduate "matching section". Candidates are also required to demonstrate an appropriate level of professional competence through training and responsible experience: over a period of at least four years, candidates must demonstrate that they have acquired specific competences that they will need in professional practice. The final stage of assessment is a "professional review" (interview) conducted by two chartered engineers at which the candidate's competence will be assessed.
Designatory lettering
Chartered Engineers are entitled to use the suffix CEng after their names. This is written after honours, decorations and university degrees but before letters denoting membership of professional engineering institutions, for example:
- A. B. Smith, OBE, BSc, CEng, FIET
When a Chartered Engineer has more than one institution membership conferring designatory letters, the institution through which the holder is registered as a Chartered Engineer appears immediately after CEng, with other memberships following in order of the institutions' foundation dates. Engineers with "chartered" titles awarded by professional institutions (such as Chartered Electrical Engineer, awarded by the Institution of Electrical Engineers prior to 2002) are only entitled to call themselves chartered engineers and use the CEng suffix if they are registered accordingly with Engineering Council UK.
Note that post-nominal letters are rarely used in British society and the CEng designation would not normally be used for social correspondence.
International equivalence
The level of competence required for registration as a chartered engineer in the UK is roughly equivalent to the following:
- Chartered Engineer titles in other English-speaking countries
- European Engineer within the European Union
- Professional Engineer in the United States of America and elsewhere
Chartered engineers are often able to register on European and international registers through Engineering Council UK.
Bodies qualified to register Chartered Engineers
The body that maintains the UK's register of Chartered Engineers is Engineering Council UK. Authority to register Chartered Engineers is delegated to licenced member institutions:
- Institute of Acoustics
- Royal Aeronautical Society
- Institution of Agricultural Engineers
- Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers
- Institute of Cast Metals Engineers
- Institution of Chemical Engineers
- Institution of Civil Engineers
- British Computer Society
- Energy Institute
- Institution of Engineering and Technology
- Institution of Engineering Designers
- Society of Environmental Engineers
- Institution of Fire Engineers
- Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers
- Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management
- Institution of Highways and Transportation
- Institution of Lighting Engineers
- Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology
- Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining
- Institute of Measurement and Control
- Institution of Mechanical Engineers
- Royal Institution of Naval Architects
- British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing
- Institution of Nuclear Engineers
- Society of Operations Engineers
- Institute of Physics
- Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine
- Institution of Railway Signal Engineers
- Institution of Structural Engineers
- Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
- Institution of Water Officers
- Welding Institute
Some of these institutions also register Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians. There are other Engineering Council UK licensed member institutions that register Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians but do not register Chartered Engineers.
See also
References
- A. & C. Black Staff. (2002). Titles and Forms of Address, 21st edition. A. & C. Black. ISBN 0-7136-6265-4
- Engineering Council UK. ECUK Institution Details. Retrieved 13 July 2007
- Engineering Council UK. FEANI Registration and the EurIng Title. Retrieved 13 July 2007
- Engineering Council UK. Register Sections. Retrieved 13 July 2007
- Institution of Engineering and Technology. How to Use Your Post-Nominals. Retrieved 13 July 2007
- Institution of Engineering and Technology. The Chartered Engineer Qualification. Retrieved 13 July 2007