As members will know, the Institution’s Council have approved the introduction of a programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which is obligatory for members as from 1986-7 session. CPD activities that will be recognised by the Institution are as follows:
Continuing professional development has become a major preoccupation in engineering, and structural engineers are rightly concerned how best to meet the needs of a changing world. Many must now accept that the role for which they were originally trained will be wholly outdated within 20 years. For some, this is only partly relevant because their developing career in any case obliges them to adapt to changing circumstances. For others, who in the past could expect reasonable continuity in their tasks, retraining is the only way of avoiding severe disappointment. Even for those whose work bears similarity with the tasks for which they were trained, knowledge keeps increasing, and they must keep up with developments to maintain technical competence. S.B. Tietz
In his Presidential addressl, David Lee showed a diagram which indicated that the number of corporate members in age bracket 25-35 was approximately half that for any other comparable age group, such as 35-45, 45-55, 55-65. It is suggested that the decision to make full-time education the principal route for potential engineers has led to this decrease in the number of young members. This precondition to Part 3 has meant that all potential members enrol for civil engineering courses, with the result that few graduates consider joining the Structurals until after becoming members of the Civils. As subscriptions continue to increase, engineers will think twice about joining two sister organisations, as well as having to register with the Engineering Council. Furthermore, one of the main sources from which the Structurals used to recruit new members has virtually dried up, i.e. the training under agreement or apprenticeship schemes coupled with good part-time education at the local technical college. For example, in the past as an apprentice in the steel industry, the only Institution one thought of joining was the Structurals. The recent poor Part 3 examination results has drawn the comment that graduates should gain more practical experience before attempting Part 3. Of course, this comment has more than a grain of truth in it when one remembers that graduates’ training does not start until they leave university/college, while the early school-leaver used to gain at least 4-5 years’ experience before reaching 21. Also, with most examinations nowadays, the standards are becoming higher than those of yesteryear, with the result that the average age for election to membership is about 27-28. L.J. Morris
Professor J. W. de Courcy (F) (University College, Dublin): It would not be seemly to address in detail a paper of this scope and authority in a contribution of a few minutes. Furthermore, it would appear that the Institution this evening must be primarily concerned with the important concepts raised by Dr. Somerville rather than with detail.
President's diary The President and Mrs Lee look forward to joining members of the Midland Counties Branch for their annual dinner/dance in Birmingham on 20 September.
The Rules of Conduct were approved by the Council of the Institution on 29 June 1972, in accordance with the terms of the Charter and of Bye-Law 85.
Professor Edmund Happold, FEng, will succeed David Lee, FEng, as President of the Institution 1986-87 at an Ordinary Meeting at headquarters on Thursday 2 October. The handover ceremony begins at 6pm, when Prof. Happold will give his Presidential Address, ‘Can you hear me at the back?’, the full text of which will be published in The Structural Engineer in November.
European Engineer? As mentioned in ‘Institution notes’ in July, the British National Committee of the European Federation of National Engineering Associations introduced the suggestion that the title ‘European Engineer’ should be adopted throughout Europe for professionally educated and trained engineers. FEANI has now been in contact with the European Commission with the aim of introducing the proposal in a future EEC directive for engineers. While the benefits of international recognition are clear, we might ask ourselves whether we are anxious to have this title. Mr Peter Dunican is forthright in his view; he writes: Personally, I would not claim to have any monopoly on daft ideas but I think this is the daftest one I have heard for a long time. I know that, for many years, considerable effort has been made to get the British public to understand what is meant by ‘Chartered Engineer’ (and perhaps with some success) but to introduce a new concept of ‘European Engineer’ based on another EEC directive and ignore completely the fact that there are also American engineers, African engineers, Indian engineers, and so on, in no way helps to achieve the international recognition and understanding which we are seeking. Verulam