An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

152A CHRONICLE OF THE ENGINEERING COUNCILA major change came about in December 2001 when, as part of the drive for greaterefficiency, the decision was taken, after extensive negotiation, to transfer the administrationof the EngC examination to the City and Guilds of London Institute. The EngC, however,through its Examinations Committee, retained full responsibility for the standards and contentof the examination.Interfacing InternationallyThe EngC’s International Committee, with considerable assistance from the DTI, devised anew certificate for Incorporated Engineers who wished to be recognised in ContinentalEurope, but this Committee still encouraged Institutions to nominate members to the EurEta(European Engineering Technician) Register operated by the European Federation ofEngineering Institutions (FEANI).However, at FEANI there were some administrative problems as the Secretary General hadbeen dismissed at the beginning of 1999 and the President, Sir John Cullen, originally a UKnominee, resigned. However, at a meeting of the FEANI Presidents in June, to help stabilisethe situation, Professor Ernest Shannon was appointed to the FEANI Executive and AndrewRamsay, the EngC’s Director – Engineers’ Regulation, was elected to FEANI’s team of threeinternal auditors.David Rogers who had experienced a long involvement with the BER and with internationalequivalences wrote in 2000:“The EngC contribution to FEANI has strengthened. We continue to be represented on theEuropean Monitoring Committee. We are beginning to make progress in getting FEANI torecognise within the EURING 2000 document the necessity to demonstrate the added valueof Eur Ing by evaluation of Professional Development and the advantages of a ProfessionalReview. The EngC has built on its representative status for the UK in the Washington Accordby playing a leading role in developing it to become the Engineers’ Mobility Forum, withRobin Wilson, a former BER Chairman, as its new Chairman. The recent meeting inVancouver, with Matthew Dixon representing EngC while I represented FEANI, made goodprogress on a revised Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding. If we can getconfirmation by the signatory countries, there is a good chance of getting an InternationalRegister in place by 2001.“The equivalent process for IEng is following on behind, but may be a bit more difficultbecause of the lack of understanding of the differing titles of practical engineers and‘technicians’ throughout Europe. International agreements certainly demand a great deal ofpatience.”In 2000 the International Committee was replaced by an ‘International Advisory Committee’comprising Senate Members active in international affairs and key internationalrepresentatives of the profession.Demand for international activities was increasing. Over the previous three years the EngChad been negotiating a Trilateral Agreement to ease recognition by Italy and France of CEngand IEng Registrants. This resulted in a formal agreement signed in Paris on 18 December2000. Also on the European front, an IEng certificate was developed in conjunction with the© Engineering Council UK 2004