CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (CPD)

 

The Committee meets four times a year. The meetings are hosted by National Associations or the FEANI Secretariat in Brussels. the autumn meeting is organised in conjunction with the FEANI Annual Business Meetings. The Committee invites visiting speakers to the meetings. They can be e.g. representatives of the host organisation, training provider, company or decision makers.

  

55th CPDC Meeting in Prague (Czech Republic) 17/03/2010

Seminar on Continuing Professional Development of Engineers

All CPDC members were cordially invited to participate to all events of the 20th CSVTS Anniversary. The afternoon session was dedicated to the Seminar on Continuing Professional Development of Engineers, held by the Czech National Committee of FEANI in cooperation with the FEANI CPDC.

The programme was as follow: 

Stárek Jakub, director of Adult Education Dept. - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic presented: ‘Systematical Approache in Area of Adult Education in Czech Republic’

Philippe Wauters, Secretary General of FEANI presented:
 'FEANI as the Representative of European Engineers – strategic Goals and actual Activities’

Alois Materna, Professor – Dept. of Structural Mechanics – Faculty of Civil Engineering – VSB Technical University of Ostrava, Chairman of Life-Long Learning Committee of the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians presented: 

‘System of Life – Long Learning in the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians’

 

András Benedek, Professor and head of Dept., director of ICEE at Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) presented:

‘Life – Long Learning and Continuing professional Development for professional Engineers in Hungary’

 

Alfredo Soeiro, Professor – Dept. Civil Engineering – University of Porto, member of CPD Committee of FEANI presented:

‘Work based Learning for CPD of Engineers’

 

John Butler, Director of CPD and HR with Engineers Ireland, member of CPD Committee of FEANI presented:

‘Accreditation of CPD learning Activities for Engineers in Ireland’

 

54th CPDC Meeting in Frankfurt (Germany) 30/11/2009

Overview of the presentations and speakers

One of the pressing topics many engineering associations in Europe deal with is the lack of Engineers. Dr. Uwe Pfenning, from the University of Stuttgart, works in cooperation with Dr. Schanz in the field of young people’s technical socialization. The latter introduced him to the participants. Dr. Pfenning gave a presentation stressing the importance of motivating the young people to become interested in engineering and explained how to increase public awareness of engineers’ importance. He reported that there are a lot of studies undertaken but there is no existing platform. He gave an outline of newest results of research in young people's technical education, their so-called technical socialization, their attitudes towards technology and the vast number (nearly 1000 in Germany) of single projects to attract young people to technology.

He presented three different concepts implemented:

  • NaBaTech, bringing in perspectives of target groups.
  • LeMoTech, conducting additional surveys and case-studies for missing “empirical” links.
  • MoMoTech, looking for work already done.

The three projects are together linked to a fourth one: EUTENA, whose task is to integrate all trends, summarising and analysing results and making recommendations and conclusions. See Presentation 

VDE took the opportunity to give the participants a picture on its profile as a technical and scientific association. The CPDC followed a guided tour of the VDE Testing and Certification Institute, comprising one of the most modern test facilities for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) worldwide. The different activities and services range during the visit were explained: Testing, Assessment, Certification, Inspection. An overview was made on what VDE provides in their services safety EMC. VDE makes sure that the electrotechnical products sold in Germany and worldwide grant its well-known certification mark, which meet e.g. standards for safety or usability. The independent VDE Institutes with its 450 employees and accreditations on national and international level, greatly contributes to safety and quality of electrotechnical products and systems. Today, more than 200.000 types of products carry this certification. See Presentation

 

53rd CPDC Meeting in Den Haag (The Netherlands) 30/09/2009

Overview of the presentation

Mrs. Barbara Remerij, a Policy Adviser in the field of member services at KIVI NIRIA came to give a presentation summarizing KIVI NIRIA Continuing Professional Development. Hereafter are some notes to the presentation explaining her slides.

Post-Bachelor and master education
 Centre of excellence (specially for young engineers, personal skills and non technical skills, agreement of mutual promotion which gives a benefit for both).
 Cooperation with institutes for post graduate education (members contribute to the content and a Program Committee decides according to the field of technology).
 Professional development Hours (several courses are chosen and recommendations are given to encourage people to develop themselves).

Professional magazines
To promote the Engineering profession, members receive discount on 45 professional magazines. KIVI NIRIA proposes several professional magazines for students, business, managing engineers, which is a big department in the association.
De Ingenieur - technology magazine, every 2 weeks
Techno - student magazine, every 3 months
Technisch Weekblad - Technology paper sent every week to all members

Career coaching by engineers
Reflection and advise, a unique service provided by KIVI-NIRIA. They give free counselling and advise to members. Members have a meeting with their coach twice a year. There is a feedback session once a year.
100 experienced engineer-coaches in every field of expertise and throughout the whole country. It is also available for entrepreneurship.  This service is mostly used by young engineers (about 100 a year)

Career planning in Group
 Career planning by professional coaches and coaching for group of 10 engineers with 6 meetings a year. In 2005, the association tried out this service and obtain good results. The group is now a network.

Salary and Market
 There is a survey every year/2 years which is published on Internet. The latest one was issued in 2008, together with WageIndicator and Dutch Partners. This is a quite low profile service in KIVI-NIRIA. The association gives only individual advise on salary.

Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is becoming more and more an option nowadays. The association stimulates people to start their own companies and give coaching for their first step, promoting themselves on KIVI NIRIA website. A network of business clubs developed  in this way.

Vacancies
The association offers cooperation with 2 vacancy-websites with free upload of resume and vacancies, a KIVI NIRIA corner, network-meetings and promotion job market events. It is not  used very often.

Across the borders
Members’ network exists across the borders. KIVI NIRIA provides certificate translation in English. There is the EUR ING title from FEANI and cooperation with other engineer associations. See Presentation

 


52nd CPDC Meeting in Budapest (Hungary) 29/05/2009

Overview of the presentations and speakers

Prof. András Benedek gave a presentation summarizing the actual CPD activities in Hungary. He stated that the acceptance and success of the Hungarian engineers and experts abroad was based on their creativity and their up-to-date knowledge, which they partly collected during their active participation in the proper CPD courses. He explained that 10 years ago, the Hungarian government adopted a law stipulating that professional engineers must renew their knowledge in their professional field every 5 years in order to have the right to continue their professional activity. The professors deemed it important to provide an organizational framework for continuing education high-level engineering training. He showed the main themes of the general courses, as well as special advertised topics, the location of the centres of CPD activities, etc ...  Prof. Benedek concluded that they have to maintain very high quality because of a high level of competition with companies or other providers and that the current economy crisis is recognised in their Institute as it is independent economically. He informed the participants that every 6 months, their courses are evaluated and they have to renew and improve the facilities and programmes/courses to suit and meet the demand. See Presentation 1

Political initiatives to encourage Studies in engineering: Dr. Butler made an impressive presentation showing all the various actions of “STEPS to Engineering” to encourage young individuals to study engineering. Managed by Engineers Ireland and supported by the department of Education & Science, Forfás, FÁS and a number of major engineering employers, “STEPS to Engineering” was established in 2000 to encourage primary and post primary students to explore the world of science and engineering. With the aim to raise awareness amongst students about engineering as a career choice, “STEPS to Engineering” put in place different initiatives such as: “STEPS to engineering Xperience Engineering”, a new initiative for primary school activities, Engineers Week incorporating Engineered! A Week of Wonder! “STEPS engineering as a Career“, student Seminars (Post Primary Activities) The Engineering and Technology Champions Programme, Etc… See Presentation 2

 


51st CPDC Meeting in Madrid (Spain) 16/02/2009 

Overview of the presentations and speakers
The 1st presentation was conducted by Mrs. Ernestina Menasalvas (emenasalvas@fi.upm.es), Vice Rector for Continuous Education at the “Polytechnic University of Madrid”. Mrs. Menasalvas  explained what the role of the University for the CPD of engineers was and that many specific problems are waiting for engineers to solve them. The Polytechnic University of Madrid has decided to see the Bologna process and restructuring the higher education system as an opportunity in the spirit of reinventing the engineering education. They are in the process of creating innovative programs for purposes of further education, some examples being: 1 – 2 year programs for redirecting your existing technical degree, special technical master programs for non-technical experts, interdisciplinary contents and use of e-platforms for every course. See Presentation

Mr. F. Javier Elorza (jelorza@dmami.upm.es), Dr. Mining Engineer, Deputy Director of Research, Doctorate and Post-grade of the Madrid High Technical School of Mining Engineering gave the second presentation on “Challenges for Euratom Research and training in the frame of the European “Higher Education” and “Research” areas, showing a detailed case example from the nuclear field’s many programs and schemes on CPD. The situation is that the nuclear field needs to recruit 5000 engineers over the next 10 years. The goal is to maintain an adequate skills base and apply a European approach to harmonise education and training. This means taking the benefit of the EU programs for education and training, increasing and enabling mobility of students and experts and taking the benefit of professional networks e.g. ENEN. There is even an idea of creating a European Training Passport. See Presentation

  


50th CPDC Meeting in Antwerpen (Belgium) 28/11/2008 

Overview of the presentations and speakers

 “CPD activities of VIK”
 Mr. De Wever introduced the speakers and started with the first presentation reporting the CPD activities of VIK and how their organisation with its Continuing Education department is assisting engineers during their professional career. See Presentation 1

“Some figures” from VIK Vorming
Mrs. Diane Luyten, Manager of VIK Education, explained how the educational programmes and lectures were operating at VIK by using charts and numbers. She also outlined the evaluation system of the courses based on feedback from the participants. See Presentation 2

"Internationalization of the education for engineers, a first step to CPD”
Prof. dr. Kris Van Keer, Dean Associated faculty of Industrial Engineering Associations, gave his vision of internationalisation of the education for engineers, which by its academic character and its tight links to industry, is an intrinsic characteristic of engineering education. See Presentation 3

“Transfer of Innovation Projects” Leonardo Da vinci multilateral projects
Mr. Butler distributed the project outline form completed by Engineers Ireland and briefly explained the core of the project. The aim of Leonardo da Vinci Multilateral Projects 'Transfer of Innovation' is to improve the quality and attractiveness of the European Vocational Education and Training system by adapting and integrating innovative content or results to new settings through working with transnational partners http://www.leonardo-ireland.com/transfer.html.
For Engineers Ireland, the objective is to share the expertise of the Engineers Ireland CPD Accredited Employer standard with European partners and to learn from them how to provide lifelong learning for engineers and technicians at all levels of education, but with a focus on Level 5 and over. The outcome could be a proposed European framework for CPD for employers of engineers, technicians and technologists. Mr. Butler asked the participants to bring this matter to the attention of their national committee and that any countries wishing to join this project should contact him. The documentation on the National Agency website is: www.leargas.ie/leonardo

Mr. Soeiro tabled a book benchmarking “ranking on CPD”, which he will explain further at the next meeting. The link to the website for future use of matrix is: daete.up.pt .