Introduction to the Engineering Council, what we do and our Making It Work webinar

Summary

The Engineering Council, a regulatory body for the engineering profession, sets international standards for formation, training, and professional conduct, emphasizing ethics and sustainability. It assures competence through professional registration with member institutions, providing societal confidence in engineers' knowledge and commitment. The council updates its standards and guidance, offering free resources to support engineers in their professional development and address global challenges, such as sustainability and cybersecurity, in collaboration with the global engineering community.

Takeaways

• 🏛️ The Engineering Council is a regulatory body that oversees the engineering profession, ensuring standards for formation, training, and competence to practice.
• 🔍 The board of the Engineering Council includes representatives from professional engineering institutions and independent members from the engineering and wider professional world.
• 📈 The Council develops and quality assures standards for continuing professional development, which is essential for registration as a professional engineer.
• 🔑 Membership with a licensed professional engineering institution is central to becoming a registered professional engineer.
• 👥 The Council's work aims to instill confidence in the engineering profession among employers, government, and society.
• 🌐 The Engineering Council collaborates with the global engineering community to harmonize standards and address global challenges.
• 📚 The Council publishes guidance on emerging practices and areas of strategic importance, such as sustainability, ethical conduct, and cybersecurity.
• 🌟 Professional registration, although not legally required in the UK, provides a register that assures employers and government of engineers' knowledge, experience, and societal commitment.
• 📈 The Council encourages stakeholders to demand evidence of competence and commitment in engineering project teams and leadership structures.
• 📝 All documents related to the Council's standards and guidance are freely available on their website for engineers, technicians, and employers.
• 🤝 Joining a licensed professional engineering institution is the first step for individuals seeking professional recognition, as they provide advice and support for professional registration and continuing development.

Q & A

What is the primary role of the Engineering Council?

The Engineering Council is a regulatory body for the engineering profession, responsible for developing standards for formation, training, competence to practice, and professional conduct, including ethical and sustainable practices.

Who are the members of the Engineering Council's board?

The board of the Engineering Council is composed of representatives from professional engineering institutions as well as independent members from both the engineering and wider professional world.

Why is continuing professional development important for engineers?

Continuing professional development is important as it ensures that engineers stay updated with the latest practices and technologies, which is a requirement for membership in licensed professional member institutions and registration as a professional engineer.

How does the Engineering Council ensure the quality of its standards?

The Engineering Council quality assures the implementation of its standards by its member institutions, which helps maintain the high quality and relevance of the standards in the engineering profession.

What is the significance of professional registration for engineers in the UK?

Although not a legal requirement, professional registration provides employers, government, and society with confidence in the knowledge, experience, and societal commitment of registered engineers and technicians.

What is the Engineering Council's stance on encouraging the demand for professional competence?

The Engineering Council strives to encourage customers, suppliers, and employers to demand evidence of competence and commitment in their project teams, leadership structures, and supply chains.

How does the Engineering Council work with the global engineering community?

The Engineering Council collaborates with the global engineering community to harmonize and promote standards, ensuring that its own standards are internationally recognized and address global challenges.

What are some areas of emerging practice or strategic importance that the Engineering Council provides guidance on?

The Engineering Council provides guidance in areas such as sustainability, ethical conduct, and cybersecurity, which are considered emerging practices or of strategic importance.

How have the Engineering Council's standards and guidance on sustainability been updated recently?

The standards and guidance on sustainability have been recently reviewed and updated with feedback from across the profession to better support the development of engineering competence for a sustainable world.

What is the purpose of the event mentioned in the script?

The event aims to show the big picture of how internationally recognized standards and guidance develop engineering competence for a sustainable world and to explore how this supports individual engineers in their day-to-day work.

How can engineers interested in professional recognition get started?

Engineers interested in professional recognition should join one of the licensed professional engineering institutions, which will provide advice, support, and contextualize guidance for continuing professional development in their sector or discipline.

Outlines

00:00

🛠️ Introduction to the Engineering Council

The script introduces the Engineering Council as a regulatory body overseeing the engineering profession. It highlights the Council's role in developing standards for education, training, competence to practice, and professional conduct with an emphasis on ethics and sustainability. The Council's board includes representatives from various professional engineering institutions and operates independently. The script also mentions the importance of continuing professional development and the role of licensed professional member institutions in the registration process of professional engineers. It underscores the Council's aim to instill confidence in the engineering profession among employers, government, and society, and its efforts to encourage the demand for competence and commitment in engineering services.

Keywords

💡Engineering Council

The Engineering Council is a regulatory body that oversees the engineering profession. It is responsible for developing and maintaining standards for education, training, competence to practice, and professional conduct. In the script, it is described as a collaborative institution that assures the quality of its member institutions and promotes confidence in the engineering profession among society.

💡Professional Registration

Professional registration is a status that signifies an individual's qualification and commitment to professional standards. Although not legally required to work on engineering projects in the UK, as mentioned in the script, it provides assurance to employers, government, and society of the engineer's knowledge, experience, and societal commitment.

💡Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Continuing Professional Development refers to the ongoing education and training that professionals undertake to keep their skills and knowledge up to date. The script emphasizes that membership of a licensed professional member institution is core to registration as a professional engineer, which includes defining requirements for CPD.

💡Ethical Conduct

Ethical conduct is the adherence to moral and professional standards in one's work. The Engineering Council's standards for professional conduct include acting in an ethical and sustainable manner, as highlighted in the script, which is crucial for maintaining public trust in the engineering profession.

💡Sustainability

Sustainability in the context of the script refers to the ability of the engineering profession to address global challenges and promote practices that are environmentally, socially, and economically viable. The Engineering Council has updated its guidance on sustainability, indicating its importance in the profession.

💡Global Challenges

Global challenges refer to worldwide issues such as climate change, resource depletion, and social inequality that the engineering profession aims to address. The script mentions that the Engineering Council's standards are internationally recognized and designed to tackle these challenges.

💡International Recognition

International recognition implies that the standards and practices set by the Engineering Council are acknowledged and respected globally. The script states that the council works with the global engineering community to harmonize and promote these standards.

💡Guidance

Guidance in the script refers to the recommendations and advice provided by the Engineering Council on various aspects of engineering practice, including emerging areas and strategic importance such as sustainability, ethical conduct, and cybersecurity.

💡Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is the protection of digital systems and data from threats. The script mentions it as one of the areas where the Engineering Council provides guidance, reflecting the growing importance of this field within the engineering profession.

💡Collaboration

Collaboration is the act of working together, which is a key aspect of the Engineering Council's approach. The script describes how the council collaborates broadly to keep its standards and guidance relevant, including with the royal academy of engineering and other institutions.

💡Professional Conduct

Professional conduct encompasses the ethical and responsible behavior expected of engineers in their professional roles. The script emphasizes the Engineering Council's commitment to defining and promoting professional conduct, including acting in an ethical and sustainable manner.

Highlights

The Engineering Council is a regulatory body for the engineering profession.

The board consists of representatives from professional engineering institutions and independent members.

The Council develops standards for education, training, competence to practice, and professional conduct.

Continuing professional development is defined as a requirement for maintaining membership.

Professional registration is not legally required but provides confidence in an engineer's knowledge and experience.

The Council encourages the demand for evidence of competence in project teams and leadership structures.

International recognition of the Council's standards addresses global challenges.

The Council publishes guidance on areas such as sustainability, ethical conduct, and cybersecurity.

Collaboration with the global engineering community ensures standards are kept relevant.

Engineering Council standards and guidance on sustainability have been recently reviewed and updated.

The aim of the event is to show how standards develop engineering competence for a sustainable world.

All documents are available free on the website for engineers, technicians, and employers.

Joining a licensed professional engineering institution is the first step for professional recognition.

Institutions provide advice on professional registration and support for continuing professional development.

Dr. Lyrisa Suzuki will explain how standards support individual engineers in practice.

Terry Fuller, a board member, will discuss the developments in the guidance on sustainability.

Professor John Chudley will introduce the opening speaker, Nikhil Seth, from the United Nations.

Transcripts

let me start off by giving you

an introduction to the engineering

council

the engineering council is a regulatory

body for the engineering profession

our board is drawn from representatives

of the professional engineering

institutions

uh as well as independence from both

engineering and the wider professional

world

as a collaborative institution the

engineering council

develops standards for formation and

training

as well as competence to practice and

commitment to

professional conduct which includes

acting

in an ethical and sustainable manner

we define requirements for continuing

professional development

which is why membership of one of our

licensed professional

member institutions is core to

registration as a professional engineer

making use of our broad base of

institutions and professional

registrants

we also quality assure the

implementation of our standards

by our member institutions a key aim of

our work

is to provide society with confidence in

the engineering profession

and these activities are all summarized

on

on the next slide so while professional

registration is not a legal requirement

to work on engineering projects in the

uk

the register provides employers

government and society

with confidence in the knowledge

experience and societal commitment

of professionally registered engineers

and technicians

we are therefore striving to encourage

customers

and suppliers of engineering services to

demand this

evidence of competence commitment in

their own project teams

as well as in their leadership

structures and indeed their supply

chains

the engineering council works with the

global engineering community

to harmonize and promote standards and

our own standards are therefore

internationally recognized and address

global challenges as we'll hear today

the engineering council also publishes

guidance in areas of emerging practice

or strategic importance such as

sustainability

but also ethical conduct and cyber

security to name a few

we collaborate broadly to keep our

standards and guidance relevant

for example our engineering ethics

reference group

a joint initiative with the royal

academy of engineering

so let's move on to tell you a little

bit more about today

so the engineering council standards and

our guidance on sustainability

have recently been reviewed and updated

with feedback from across the profession

the aim of this event is both to show

the big picture of how

internationally recognized standards and

guidance develop engineering competence

for a sustainable world

and to drill down into how that supports

individual engineers

in their day-to-day work importantly

all our documents are available free on

our website

for any engineer technician or employer

to use

for those who are interested in seeking

professional recognition

the first step is to join one of our

licensed

professional engineering institutions

they will provide advice and support on

how to become professionally registered

and they will also contextualize our

guidance

and provide support for continuing

professional development for their

sector

or discipline and we'll be hearing an

example of this later

from sibsi the chartered institution of

building services engineers

dr lyrisa suzuki will explain how our

standards support individual engineers

in practice

and terry fuller the engineering council

board member

who chaired the working group which

revised our guidance on sustainability

we'll talk a little bit about those

developments

but right now i take great pleasure in

handing over

to professor john chudley also a fellow

board member of the engineering council

and chairman of our registration

standards committee

who will introduce our opening speaker

nikhil seth

the united nations assistant secretary

general