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Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11338.html

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF ENGINEERING DEGREES 137

1999. Four countries have been added as provisional signatories: Japan
in 2001 and Germany, Malaysia, and Singapore in 2003. In addition,
the accreditation bodies of India and Bangladesh have recently expressed
their intent to submit applications for provisional membership, and
Russia and Korea have sent representatives to meetings of the Washing-
ton Accord signatories.
Alec Hay, chairman of the International Committee of the Engi-
neering Council of South Africa, stated while reporting on a June 2001
meeting on the Washington Accord that “Being a signatory to the WA
[Washington Accord] remains therefore a significant development for
South Africa and is in line with the Government’s perspective that the
standards in engineering should meet international standards.”
A recent paper by Professor M.K. Khanijo (2004), senior consult-
ant with the Engineering Council of India, describes India’s motivation
for signing on to the Washington Accord: “Since GATS [General Agree-
ment of Trade in Services] emphasizes recognition of qualifications of
professionals, it is in India’s interest to get its own system of recognition
and registration made acceptable at the international level. If this is not
done, Indian engineers will be at a disadvantage and may even be ruled
out when they seek opportunities for employment.”
Although membership in the Washington Accord is considered by
many national accreditation agencies as the best path towards interna-
tional recognition, some concerns remain about whether developing
nations can be accepted as full members.

The EUR ING Professional Title
The Fédération Européenne d’Associations Nationales d’Ingénieurs
(FEANI) (translated as the European Federation of National Engineer-
ing Associations) is a federation of national engineering associations
from the EU, European Free Trade Association, and countries consid-
ered “eligible for accession into the EU” at a future time. Currently,
FEANI, which has 26 member countries representing more than two
million professional engineers, considers itself “the single voice for the
engineering profession in Europe” and is working to “affirm and de-
velop the professional identity of engineers.” The European Commis-
sion recognizes FEANI as the official representative of the engineering
profession in Europe (FEANI, 2005).

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