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of Engineers has become convinced that, under modern conditions, where instruction by masters or employers has been replaced by courses of study in schools, practical training is more valuable after the essential examinations are completed.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.