Professional Training

The terms “engineer” and “engineering” have become so widely used that it is now necessary to adopt qualifying terms to identify the type of engineering meant — electrical, civil, mechanical, chemical, and so on — and also to distinguish between the manual skills of the artisan-engineer (be he fitter, boilermaker, steam engineer, or electrician), and the academic and mental skills of the professional engineer. The term “professional engineering” is increasingly used to describe the applied science which is engineering. In addition, there is a newly emerging and very important group — the “technicians” – who occupy an ill-defined position between the artisan and professional engineers.

One hundred years ago professional engineering was divided into two simple categories — military and civil. At that time civil engineering embraced the whole field of engineering now generally separated into civil, electrical, and mechanical. Young men received their training by pupilage. Under this system an aspirant became articled to a practising engineer who undertook to instruct him and to provide him with practical experience of his craft. In Britain, one of the earliest attempts to offer organised classes for engineers was made by a small society which met in John Smeaton's house about 1780. This group eventually formed the Smeatonian Society which became the forerunner of the Institution of Civil Engineers (London).

Professional Institutions

The Institution of Civil Engineers was formed in London in 1818 and was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1828. The Institutions of Mechanical and Electrical Engineers separated from their parent body in 1847 and 1871 and received their charters of incorporation in 1930 and 1921 respectively. These are generally regarded as the three great engineering institutions and the whole pattern for professional qualifications in the British Commonwealth has been built around their requirements. The Home institutions have encouraged the establishment of national institutions in Commonwealth countries; but, whereas in Britain the original Institution of Civil Engineers split into three separate institutions, in New Zealand and Australia all the specialised forms of engineering are catered for by one institution. Membership of the British institutions, or of national institutions patterned on them, has become the recognised qualification for professional engineers in Commonwealth countries. Every four years the national institutions hold a Commonwealth conference where policies are discussed and reasonable uniformity is assured.

Educational Requirements for Engineers

National institutions arrange examinations to suit the requirements of the three basic fields of engineering. Aspirants in unrelated special fields — such as chemical or mining engineering — are admitted to membership if they possess an approved university qualification. There are also several specialised fields which are derivatives of the basic three: structural is a branch of civil engineering; electronics and radio are similarly associated with electrical engineering; while heating and ventilation are allied both to electrical and to mechanical engineering. This growth of specialised groups, with their tendency to break away from the established institutions, is symptomatic of the developments that have taken place over the past 50 years. In Britain, these groups have established institutions of their own, and, while this may be a healthy sign in some respects, it has tended to narrow educational horizons within the profession as a whole. In New Zealand the Institution of Engineers is trying to prevent this tendency to subdivide and it seeks to accommodate all professionally qualified engineers within its membership.

With this institutional background, it will be clear that engineering education has aimed at combining academic study with practical training. All aspirants for British Institutions' examinations must undertake approved practical training while they are studying. An exception to this requirement has been the acceptance of university degrees as being equivalent to institution examinations and in this case the provision relating to practical training is waived until after admission. The New Zealand Institution of Engineers has become convinced that, under modern conditions, where instruction by masters or employers has been replaced by courses of study in schools, practical training is more valuable after the essential examinations are completed. For this reason it is currently proposed that aspirants should undertake three years' approved practical training after the completion of their qualifying examinations. The New Zealand Institution has not yet made a final decision to require that training must follow examinations. It has represented this opinion to the Commonwealth group and there is every likelihood that it will be adopted in New Zealand. This period of practical training is already demanded from those who have completed a university degree. Those who take the institution's examinations would have to be employed for five years in engineering work and during this period they would complete their papers. In almost all cases this will be followed by three years of organised practical training and experience.

Requirements and Qualifications: Degree Courses

The New Zealand Institution of Engineers now prefers that those who seek membership should undertake full-time university studies rather than institutional examinations. Of the university courses available for the Bachelor of Engineering degree; chemical engineering takes five years, and civil, mechanical, electrical, and mining take four. The curricula for these may be found in the calendar for the universities where the engineering schools are situated.

Institutional Examinations (A.M.I.C.E., A.M.I.(MECH.)E., A.M.I.E.E.)

Although less and less patronised as the years pass, particularly in New Zealand, the institution examinations continue to provide an alternative means of qualification for those who find it impracticable to attend university full time.

Owing to the high standard set for the examinations, some full-time study is highly desirable and, as most technical colleges in this country withdrew their professional engineering courses on the introduction of the New Zealand Certificate in Engineering, some candidates attend university classes for a year's sessions or longer. The Universities do not provide courses for institution examinations, but attendance at selected lectures in the degree course covers requirements fairly satisfactorily. Attendance at university has the additional advantage of enabling candidates to do some laboratory and practical work.

Notwithstanding the difficulties, some candidates succeed in completing the examination with the sole aid of part-time instruction at technical college or by correspondence. In this way, employment is uninterrupted, although experience shows that the candidate does not benefit fully from his practical work until he has completed his examinations.

The examinations of the Institutions of Civil and Mechanical Engineers, and of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers, are divided into two parts. The Institution of Electrical Engineers adds a third part to these. Part I is devoted to mathematics and physical sciences, with the addition of engineering drawing which is not studied by degree students until their more advanced years. Part II is akin to the professional section of the degree course in that the preparation for it is directed towards the application of science to engineering problems. The high degree of specialisation in the modern engineering world is recognised by the provision of many optional subjects in the Part II examination.

Practical Training

Although basically similar, the practical training requirements for the Civil Electrical and Mechanical Institutions' membership have varied. They require that, during any period devoted to the study of professional engineering subjects, students shall either be attending a university full time or shall be in approved employment where there is an undertaking by the employer to provide training.

The final evidence required by these institutions to show that adequate training has been obtained has taken different forms. The New Zealand Institution, perhaps because it was originally the New Zealand Society of Civil Engineers, has followed the practice of the British Institution of Civil Engineers. This requires that, after all examinations are completed, and after specified lengths of time in suitable employment, the candidate attends an interview. At this “professional interview”, candidates are required to present evidence of education and training, to present samples of their work in the form of plans, calculations, engineering quantities, or scientific theses, and to appear in person before two interviewers. Generally speaking, it is impossible for an engineer to present himself successfully until he has spent at least seven, and usually eight years, in engineering studies and employment. Four years at university plus three years in planned employment represent a minimum for university-trained men. Candidates who are successful in passing the professional interview may then apply with confidence for associate membership of the New Zealand Institution of Engineers.

Registration

New Zealand legislation includes an Engineers Registration Act 1924 which is administered by the Engineers' Registration Board. This board adopts standards which are as nearly as possible those of the established engineering institutions. Candidates who satisfy the institution for associate membership may be regarded as assured of registration. This qualification is given brief notice although it is not a professional qualification.

The New Zealand Certificate in Engineering

The New Zealand Certificate in Engineering was introduced to provide a recognised qualification for technicians — that group which “can apply in a reasonable manner proven techniques which are commonly understood by those who are expert in a branch of engineering, or those techniques specially prescribed by professional engineers”. Moreover, in carrying out many of his duties, the technician will work under the competent supervision of skilled professional engineers.

Courses are available in civil, mechanical, electrical, telecommunications, refrigeration, and production engineering. These take five years' (part-time) study, the more advanced instruction being available only at the major technical colleges. Less advanced instruction is provided at most technical schools. School Certificate or an equivalent standard is required for entry to the course, but there is a subject-for-subject exemption (for first-year and some second-year subjects) in respect of subjects passed for School Certificate or University Entrance. Hence the duration of the course may be shortened where exemptions apply. Students are required to be employed in suitable engineering work while they are studying.

The number of students attending courses for the New Zealand Certificate in Engineering has multiplied enormously since the first enrolments in 1955, thereby demonstrating the reality of the need for courses of this kind.

Some of those who embark on the New Zealand Certificate course transfer to professional studies. A few do so before completing the certificate course, but this is believed to be ill advised, as the certificate courses are very well ordered and can provide a useful foundation for more advanced study. Candidates completing the certificate course with distinction may receive consideration for entry to the Bachelor of Engineering degree course, with certain credits for their prior studies, thus shortening the time spent full time at University.

by Percy Lyndon Laing, B.E.(CIVIL), M.I.C.E., Commissioner of Works, Wellington.