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Professional registration: where it all leads
For engineers who want a career of impact and responsibility, professional registration is the goal. Your student portfolio is the first step towards it.
In the UK
Three registration titles
Each is assessed against the same five competence areas, at increasing depth:
Not everyone will become a Chartered Engineer, and that is fine: each title is a mark of competence for a different role.
You register through a licensed professional institution. Civil and geotechnical engineers usually register through the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), mechanical engineers through the IMechE and electrical engineers through the IET, for example. The ICE assesses you against its own seven attributes, including commercial ability, health, safety and welfare, and sustainable development.
Registration normally needs an accredited degree and a period of professional development at work, often through a graduate training scheme. Your student portfolio does not replace that stage, but it gives you a head start and a habit that carries straight into it.
In Nigeria
Registration with COREN
Registration is with COREN, the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria. To register as an Engineer, COREN currently asks for a COREN-accredited degree, at least four years of professional engineering experience, and an experience report of 3,000 to 5,000 words. Recording what you did, what you learned and what it shows is the raw material for that report.
Elsewhere
Check your own institution
Other countries have their own bodies and frameworks. Requirements change, so always check your own institution’s current guidance. The entry questions in this guide work with any of them.
A fuller guide to professional registration is on its way.