The Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

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Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is mandatory for our professionally qualified members: Fellows, Chartered Members, Associates, Incorporated-Members and Technician Members.

Structural engineering is constantly evolving and keeping abreast of technical and professional developments is an essential part of the role.

Because of this, it’s mandatory for our Chartered Members (including Fellows), Associates, Incorporated-Members and Technician Members to undertake CPD each year.

Benefits of CPD

If you are professionally qualified with us you’re almost certainly undertaking CPD already. We ask you to record it to reflect how you are growing your knowledge and skills.

There are lots of benefits to recording your CPD: it demonstrates your commitment to both employers and clients, and you’ll also need completed CPD forms to join many other professional organisations.

Remember, your CPD activity is published through our member directory, so it’s a great way to advertise your commitment to clients.

What's involved

We expect you to undertake the recommended minimum amount each year (30 hours).

We know some years this can be difficult, so we do say that you can cover 90 hours over a three year period.

CPD activities take many forms. You can demonstrate CPD by working with the Institution on its committees and panels; by taking courses on any aspect of your career; by watching recorded lectures and conferences; by reading The Structural Engineer and other Institution publications; by volunteering your time for education and careers activities; and through your practical experience. 

Six of every 30 hours should be devoted to health and safety. Such activities include reading CROSS reports and viewing papers and lectures on robustness, failure and collapse of structures.

A commitment to sustainabilitiy should also be demonstrated with a further six house being devoted to Sustainability activities. Examples of Sustainability activities could include reading investigation papers and articles from the Climate Emergency Task Group and attendance at Climate Emergency e-conferences.

Mandatory submission

Our members’ professional competence is of vital importance to safety in the built environment.

That’s why every year we require a certain number of professional members to submit CPD records. You can expect to receive such a mandatory request every three to five years.

If you receive such a mandatory request you must submit your CPD record by 31 May. If you fail to submit we will communicate with you to offer help. We will also take extenuating circumstances into account.

However, if you fail to engage with the process your membership will lapse. You will ultimately face removal from membership of the Institution if you fail to submit the report.

Note: If you are retired or no longer practising you may not be required to submit CPD, so be sure to tell us if you’re no longer professionally active.

Don’t wait for mandatory submission

Even if you have not been selected for mandatory submission, we encourage you to submit a CPD record annually.

It is a great way to track your own development, stay in touch with your Institution, and receive tailored advice from our Professional Development Panel.

We accept CPD forms from other institutions

If you have already completed a record for another institution (for example, ICE, or Engineers Australia), or prepared a record for your employer, you can simply submit a copy to us. You will only need to clearly state your name, Regional Group and membership number and ensure you spell out how many hours were spent on each activity and the benefits gained.

CPD aligned organisations

Some organisations have CPD programmes which are broadly in line with our policies. If you’ve satisfied their CPD requirements you don’t need to make a CPD record submission at all, only inform us that you have done so.

These Institutions are:

  • Barbados Association of Professional Engineers
  • Engineers Australia
  • Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia
  • Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta
  • Hong Kong Institution of Engineers
  • Professional Engineers Board Singapore
  • Structural Engineers Registration Ltd
  • The Engineering Council of South Africa
  • Practice Qualifications Registration Centre (People’s Republic of China)
     
How to create your CPD record

We recommend that you update your CPD activity via My Account through the year at convenient times. That way you have an online record that’s ready to submit on request.

Once you’ve submitted

Our Professional Development Panel reviews your submission. Often they’ll provide feedback and suggestions to help you develop your career.

Questions?

Contact the membership team

 

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