Page 155 - Educating the Engineer of 2020: Adapting Engineering Education to the New Century

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

138 EDUCATING THE ENGINEER OF 2020

One of the services provided by FEANI, the granting of the EUR
ING professional title, is intended to “facilitate the mutual recognition
of engineering qualifications in Europe” and (1) facilitate mobility by
assigning a “guarantee of competence” to engineers who wish to prac-
tice outside their own countries, (2) provide information to employers
about educational and training systems in Europe, and (3) encourage
continuous improvements in the quality of engineers by monitoring
and reviewing standards. Currently, slightly fewer than 30,000 regis-
tered engineers have been granted the EUR ING title.
FEANI maintains an index of universities and other institutions of
higher education and their engineering degree programs recognized as
fulfilling the mandatory educational requirements for the EUR ING
title. Member countries submit descriptions of schools and degree pro-
grams for inclusion in the FEANI Index upon approval by the Euro-
pean Monitoring Committee. The FEANI Index is intended to be the
“authoritative source of information about national engineering educa-
tion systems and educational institutions” (FEANI, 2000).

Other Pan-European Organizations
The European Standing Observatory for the Engineering Profes-
sion and Education (ESOEPE), which is associated with FEANI, com-
prises organizations concerned “with quality assurance and accredita-
tion of engineering programmes, including national and trans-national
(European) bodies, Associations or temporary networks.” ESOEPE has
aspirations of becoming the European body dealing with accreditation
(FEANI, 2001). In fact, ESOEPE has considered changing its name to
the European Consortium for Engineering Accreditation.
The European Parliament is currently considering a directive
[COM(2004)317] that would accelerate the processing of requests for
recognition of qualifications by giving more automatic recognition to
engineers who meet certain agreed criteria. The purpose would be to
bridge differences in education and training and make it easier for engi-
neers and other professionals to work anywhere in the EU.
Many other pan-European organizations are addressing the issue of
mutual recognition of accreditation and quality control in higher edu-
cation. Currently, there is a good deal of discussion, even competition,
about which models for European-wide accreditation of degrees will

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