An Engine for Change - A Chronicle of the Engineering Council

214A CHRONICLE OF THE ENGINEERING COUNCILThe only significant problem is that of representation on Senate. However, it is recognisedthat this is difficult for an Institute with a relatively small number of Registrants. Bettergroupings within Colleges would assist.The relationship with the Engineering Council has always been good, and has certainlygrown and improved over the last five years, particularly with the Institute becoming aNominated Body in 1996. This has resulted in a more close relationship and more mutualinvolvement of the staff of both our organisations.Institution of Chemical EngineersI fear I decline to respond to the framework but will leave you with a sound bite taken froman IChemE Council member.“The future of the IChemE does not lie within the Engineering Council. It absorbs our effortwithout any real return, it has not advanced the status of engineers at all, and is a Tower ofBabel with so many irreconcilable and different engineering organisations.”Why do we end up with comments of this kind? I think it is because we persist, in thiscountry, in discussing something called the ‘engineering profession’ which, I fear, does notexist. The Americans do not fall into the trap. They call the agglomeration of engineeringsocieties the ‘engineering professions’ because they respect the professions as beingindividual and different. ..We can form alliances and campaign on issues, but they will berelatively few and far between and do not require signing up to a unity in the profession orwhatever phrase is being peddled today. Just because a bunch of subjects have ‘engineering’in their title, does not really establish an intellectually respectable case for seeing thedisciplines as being cognate or that much related.We do not have anyone talking up the concept of a science profession. We have ‘thesciences’.I think that this issue has actually caused a lot of trouble for the engineering community. Ithas caused us to apologise for our diversity rather than celebrating it, but here I am in dangerof riding off on a hobby horse.Association of Cost EngineersThe relationship with the Membership Department of the Engineering Council can only bedescribed as good and it has probably improved over the years. The relationships outside theMembership Department are rather more tenuous. Probably this is because as the Associationis small and does not have many permanent staff, the links on the Association side are withthe members who actually do the work relating to registration. It is not a case of a managerwho is briefed but does not actually do the work.. This was particularly evident at the mostrecent audit of the Association.Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental ManagementAlthough the establishment of the Engineering Council in 1981 was a great leap forward wedo not believe that it has really fulfilled its proper role. The reasons for this are various butone of the barriers has been its inability to establish a clearly defined relationship with all© Engineering Council UK 2004