Continuing education for engineers

¶ … Education in Engineering

Engineering is a highly technical profession that requires considerable professional training to enter the field. By the time a professional engineer completes his or undergraduate education program and then satisfies the professional certification requirements that are prerequisites to practice in the field, he or she is highly qualified and capable of fulfilling the obligations and responsibilities of professional practice. However, like other sciences, engineering science is a continually evolving field in which a professional cannot rely exclusively on prior training to remain competent in the field. Since so many aspects of applied engineering directly affect human safety, it is essential that all practicing professional engineers continually update their knowledge bases and skills (Harris, Pritchard, & Rabins, 2008).

Generally, the individual engineering licensing agencies and professional associations maintain their own requirements for continuing education in their particular areas (Harris, Pritchard, & Rabins, 2008). However, these requirements represent only the bare minimum by virtue of the tremendous variability in the individual practices of most professional engineers. In principle, it is impossible for a broad set of continuing education requirements of all mechanical engineers or of all civil engineers to adequately ensure the complete continued professional competence of all of the members of those respective professional associations. Therefore, the engineering firm and employing agencies have an ethical responsibility to ensure that the continued education of their engineers meets the actual needs of their specific professional responsibilities beyond the more general minimum requirements set by professional associations of engineers.

Generally, this responsibility would require employers to establish their own in-house training requirements that address specialty areas and sub-specialty areas beyond the depth of knowledge that they can possibly be covered in general engineering association educational requirements. Departmental managers should play a role in determining the specific areas of special competence required of engineers reporting to them and they should contribute to the in-house development of testing tools used to ensure competence in those areas.

Monitoring their professional status is also an ethical responsibility of every firm employing professional engineers (Harris, Pritchard, & Rabins, 2008). At a minimum, that means maintaining accurate records of certification status and dates; but it also means that the organization must apply the same level of concern to ensure that all in-house standards and testing requirements are met, beyond those formally required by law. In practice, every supervisor and department head must play an active role in that regard by singing off on individual employee compliance with periodic testing requirements.