Latest ECUK figures show another good year for professional registration

At the start of this year the number of individuals registered by ECUK as Chartered Engineers (CEng) had grown to 188,701, their ranks boosted by an influx of 5563 new registrants in 2006. This is the second highest annual intake in the last ten years, exceeded only by the 2005 figure of 5906. It was appreciably up on new CEng registrations in 2003 and 2004.

ECUK's Executive Director Andrew Ramsay believes that the figures for the last two years indicate a strong resurgence of interest in professional registration: "Younger engineers in particular are getting the message that the CEng award is more than just a piece of paper. They are aware that it will give them greater status and influence and enhance their career prospects and earnings potential. In addition, more and more engineering employers actually require their engineers to be registered or be committed to becoming so. With CEng registration now widely recognised internationally it is also a valuable asset to the growing number of UK engineers who work overseas."

Chartered Engineers make up over three quarters of the men and women on the ECUK register. The rest are registered as Incorporated Engineers (IEng) and Engineering Technicians (EngTech). At the beginning of the year the former numbered 40,466 and the latter 13,363. Though still relatively small, the EngTech section of the register is attracting significant numbers of new recruits and is expected to grow at an even faster rate in the next few years; 2524 individuals gained the award in 2005 and 2006.