Chartership

A chartership is a formal qualification awarded by the UK Engineering Council to a person in recognition of a particular level of competence in their professional field.  

You cannot expect that the level of your technical/responsibility experience during your placement will satisfy the requirements of the CEng or IEng professional registration. Even though it will take several years for you to develop all of the competencies for CEng or IEng it is not too early to understand the requirements (based on UK-Spec) and relating these to your engineering experience.

The Engineering Council is the UK's regulatory authority for the registration of Chartered and Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians.

What is UK-Spec?

The UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC) sets out the competence and commitment required for registration as an Engineering Technician (EngTech), Incorporated Engineer (IEng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng). It also includes examples of activities that demonstrate the required competence and commitment.

As you reach the end of a year in the industry you will produce a Final Placement report based on the competencies gained during your placement.  This report is required by the university as part of your placement year assessment scheme and also could be a basis for your potential application for professional qualification.  Some professional institutions allow placement students to apply for the Engineering Technician Professional qualification after completing their placement year.

Start working toward your professional qualification:

Before starting your placement: 

• look through the list of and understand the UK Spec for professional registration

• get your job description approved by your Year in Industry Programme Lead and, based on the project outline provided by your placement provider,  think about whether your work experience will cover UK-Spec requirements

• create a development plan for the duration of your placement, tailor your work objectives to UK-Spec required by your Final Placement Report

After you have started your placement: 

• discuss your professional development with your line manager while setting up your work aims and objectives

• set up regular progress meetings with your line manager or/and other engineers who can advise you on how to meet competencies

• suggest and discuss current or/and additional work projects which will cover competence's requirements of your placement report and professional development

• identify professional development schemes run by the company and find out how to join

• Keep an accurate record of the work that you are doing and provide evidence (examples) of required competence and commitment.