An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

VERDICT 187Shortcomings• Failure to establish Registration as an essential qualification for engineers.• Lack of confidence in selling itself to the public.• Misconception of the ‘College’ structure arising out of the Fairclough Initiative bywhich Colleges were unsatisfactory devices for dividing up the electorate rather thaneffective professional groupings of related engineering disciplines.• Still far too many Engineering Institutions.• No action to draw the attention of Government to the catastrophic decline of the UKmanufacturing base.• Institutions continuing not to trust or to match the changes promulgated by the EngC.• Insufficient realisation that the EngC volunteers are the most valuable resource groupfor its survival.• The importance (as distinct from the status) of the profession to the economy remainsunrecognised.• Huge swathes of industry to which the Engineering Council means nothing.Suggested Future ActionsThe suggested future actions for the EngC are given here. All were suggested more than onceby different respondents. They merit consideration now by the ETB or the EC(UK) asappropriate: [Some editing has been carried out for consistency of presentation]• Develop the prestige of the Register so that all who are qualified become registered.• Promote closer relationships and partnerships between all engineering organisations.• Pursue vigorously the cause of Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians –and for women as well as men.• Conduct a vigorous campaign to recruit more small and medium-sized enterprises tobecome Industry Affiliates.• Establish in the public mind and the body politic the Engineer’s historic and presentrole in advancing public health.• Look at the impact of ‘new’ areas of engineering and take full account of the multidisciplinarynature of engineering projects. The Institutions alone will not progressengineering as an entity.• Embrace the new ‘digital’ economy where software, telecommunications, and e-business are now major employers of technical skills.• Investigate the decline of our manufacturing industry and make recommendations.• Stand up in full public glare for engineers and engineering in all aspects, not only ingeneral but in detail, week-in and week-out.• Simplify SARTOR. Introduce a modular approach to make it more easily understood.• Promote and implement competence and standards for career progression – CPD,assessment and accreditation, licensing for specifically identified skills.• Foster an independent enquiry into the roles of the Institutions and suggest possibleamalgamations.• Ensure the relationship with Government is enhanced and recognised as effective.• Preach the excellence of the UK system of engineers’ formation to overseasorganisations.© Engineering Council UK 2004