Access the Benefits of CEng with Mentorship and Guidance

As your engineering career progresses, a step you’ll want to take is to register as a Chartered Engineer. This professional registration offers many benefits, including industry recognition and higher earning potential.

In this article, we explore the key benefits of Chartered Engineer (CEng) status and walk you through the registration route for members of the Institute of Corrosion.

What are the benefits of registering as a Chartered Engineer?

Being a Chartered Engineer shows that you have the skill set, knowledge, experience and expertise to do what Chartered Engineers do:

“Develop solutions to engineering problems using new or existing technologies, through innovation, creativity and change and/or they may have technical accountability for complex systems with significant levels of risk.”

With a significant upgrade in the recognition of your technical expertise, your CEng status demonstrates that you are committed to continuous professional development to meet evolving needs. This prestigious title offers some real tangible benefits, including:

·       You improve your career prospects

Chartered Engineer status is likely to help improve your career prospects among a wider audience of employers.

·       You improve your earning potential

According to the 2019 Salary Survey by The Engineer, professionally registered engineers earn substantially more than their non-registered colleagues – almost 25% more. The mean salary for registered engineers is £55,968 versus £45,809 for non-registered engineers.

The salary differential is particularly pronounced in telecoms, utilities and electronics (with an average £18,000 gap) and energy/renewables, and nuclear (with a difference of £13,000). Based on these findings, over 20 years your greater earning potential as a Chartered Engineer might be worth more than £250,000 (and that’s based only on the average difference in salaries).

·       Your competence is internationally recognised

The UK standards under which CEng is registered are recognised around the world. You’ll take your improved employability and earning potential with you wherever you travel for work.

·       You increase your professional network

As a Chartered Engineer, you become a recognised expert in your field. Should you wish, and with membership of a professional body such as the Institute of Corrosion, this can lead to participation in professional working groups, campaigns, reports, and a wider and deeper professional network.

·       You become an ‘appropriate person’

As a CEng, you become classified as an ‘appropriate person’ under the UK Passport list of occupations. This means that you can certify and countersign applications when documented evidence of identity is required (such as passports and bank accounts).

How do you become a Chartered Engineer?

There are several routes to registration as a Chartered Engineer, based upon your qualifications and experience. Whichever route is most appropriate, you will be assessed across five competence statements:

1. Knowledge and understanding
2. Application to practice
3. Technical and commercial leadership
4. Interpersonal skills commitment
5. Personal commitment

Within these competencies you will also be assessed on other elements that include:

• Health and safety
• Risk assessment
• Understanding of the environment
• Sustainability
• Ethical behaviour

These competencies and other elements are embedded in the core values of the Institute of Corrosion.

In short, the process of becoming a Chartered Engineer as a professional member of the Institute of Corrosion can be summarised as follows:

• Review the routes to registration as a Chartered Engineer
• Download and complete your Chartered Engineer application form
• Send your application to: The Secretary of the Engineering Council Registration Committee, Institute of Corrosion, Corrosion House, 5 St Peters Gardens, Marefair, Northampton, NN1 1SX, United Kingdom.
• Your professional membership status of the Institute of Corrosion is confirmed, and your application is assessed for acceptability and completeness.
• Once confirmed as complete, your application is submitted to the next Society of Operations Engineers (SOE) Membership and Standards Committee meeting for review.
• The SOE advises the Institute of Corrosion of your most appropriate registrant grade and route and any additional information required.
• You will be requested to attend a Professional Review Interview (PRI).
• If successful, you will be informed and then invoiced by the Institute of Corrosion for the the Engineering Council UK (ECUK) one-off registration fee and annual registration fee.
• Your name is added to the SOE’s register and the SOE informs ECUK who will add you to the register and issue your certificate. Only then can you use your post-nominal CEng.

Help to Become a CEng

As part of our commitment to our members, we have established a mentoring programme designed to help ensure that you have the necessary education and experience for registration as a Chartered Engineer. We’ll provide guidance with the assessment of your competency in the field of corrosion engineering, examining your core technical competencies against expected minimum levels for CEng status.

We’ll help you develop a programme that accelerates you to your goal of becoming a Chartered Engineer. This programme may include recommended training and/or conference involvement. We’ll also assist you to complete the application form and we can provide guidance before your PRI.

For more information about the mentoring programme, email the Institute of Corrosion at admin@icorr.org. Or, if you would prefer to speak to us, call us on + 44 (0) 1604 438222.

Start your Chartered Engineer journey today

As a registered Chartered Engineer your competence and capability will be recognised around the world. You are likely to receive a higher salary, and operate within an elite professional network.

Whatever your qualifications and experience, there is a route to CEng. Professional members of the Institute of Corrosion are in an enviable position, with unrivalled mentorship and guidance available – just part of our commitment to our members.

To learn more about the competency standards, visit UKSPEC.

A word from our President

In the latest issue of Corrosion Management, the bi-monthly magazine of the Institute of Corrosion, ICorr President Gareth Hinds says:

“I’m delighted to say that we have signed an agreement with the Society of Operations Engineers allowing them to take over the registration of our CEng, IEng, and EngTech members with the Engineering Council. Huge thanks are due to David Harvey and Bill Hedges for their efforts in securing this seamless transition from the now defunct Society of Environmental Engineers. If you had been holding off submitting an application while this was being sorted, now is the time!”

To enquire about becoming a Chartered Engineer via professional membership of the Institute of Corrosion, email us at admin@icorr.org.