ECUK spells out its role

In 2002 the old Engineering Council was split into two organisations - the Engineering & Technology Board (ETB) and the Engineering Council UK (ECUK). Five years on and there is still confusion in some quarters about the nature of their respective roles.

Basically, ETB is responsible for promoting engineering and professional registration, while ECUK has the job of regulating the profession - a function that requires it to maintain the national register of Chartered Engineers, Incorporated Engineers and Engineering Technicians and to set the standards of competence that govern the award and retention of these titles. In fact it does much more than this, as is made clear in a new ECUK brochure.

As the brochure explains, ECUK's extensive duties include monitoring and supporting its 36 licensed engineering institutions to ensure correct and consistent application of the standards for registration, as well as those that lay down the requirements for degree accreditation - which is another important area of its work. Moreover, it does much to foster and facilitate co-operation between the institutions in order to disseminate good practice.

ECUK has also been heavily involved with important educational and training developments. For instance, it has coordinated the creation of the MSc in Professional Engineering, a new work-based learning approach to attaining CEng registration. It is active too at earlier stages of the engineer 'formation' process, as evidenced by its participation in the development of a number of the 14-19 Diplomas, particularly the one for engineering.

Among its many other commitments, ECUK is a member of various international organisations and agreements, which has allowed it to exert real influence outside the UK. This has benefited not only individual registrants - some 50,000 of whom are domiciled overseas - but also UK engineering businesses and our system of engineer education.