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Expertise

A Bachelor’s degree and an MBA may be a coveted set of qualifications but are not always much use for an engineering design office or even an engineering fabrication workshop. After graduation, what matters is hands-on experience.

After some years of real-life experience, it is time for engineers to prove they make the grade by sitting tough examinations for chartered status. This recognises both their academic ability and their practical training.

These kinds of ‘corporate membership’ examinations exist in the UK and US but not to the same extent in Europe. There people tend to get qualifications such as a Dr.Ing after graduation.

In the UK, though, membership of learned societies such as the Institutes of Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, or specialised ones such as the Royal Institute of Naval Architects is crucial to practise engineering at a higher level.

To train engineers for membership of these institutions, the Engineering Council of the UK set up four colleges: one for civil and structural; one for mechanical; one for electrical and electronic engineering; and a fourth for welding, naval architecture etc..

A similar set-up, organised into international-standard colleges that separate the wheat from the chaff, ought to be introduced to give Indian engineers the opportunity to prove their qualifications and gain appropriate remuneration.