4. Chartered Status

To increase acceptance that the award of Chartered Status to our members for their competence is the assured measure of continuing professionalism in engineering.

At 30 Jun 09, 25,793 members enjoyed Chartered Status. Of these, 13,776 (53%) are regarded as having Chartered Status (current).

Promoting Chartered Status

• Engineers Australia released a range of corporate communication materials to assist those currently on the Chartered Status pathway and those yet to commence. This included comprehensive support material on the Professional Development Program (PDP) and a recognition strategy to differentiate members with Chartered Status.
• In a significant advance, Council approved a new Career Breaks Policy and modifications to the CPD policy to scale back requirements for CPD hours for members on a career break or working part-time. This is expected to provide support and encouragement for women engineers to achieve and maintain Chartered Status and NPER Registration.
• Articles promoting Chartered Status and the PDP (and PDP companies) continue to be placed in National and Divisional newsletters.

Supporting our graduate members achieve Chartered Status

• Engineers Australia offers the PDP as a structured framework to support engineers towards the achievement of Chartered Status. Participation within the program is available to members and non-members of Engineers Australia. Most participants are sponsored in their PDP by their employers who partner with Engineers Australia for this purpose.
• During the year, a fresh approach was introduced to several aspects of our support for the PDP. The Industry Liaison Team increased their engagement through presentations on Chartered Status and the PDP process to senior engineers in the workplace, to raise the profile of Chartered Status throughout a PDP organisation and to assist the senior engineers to mentor their graduates towards Chartered Status.
• Further, a closer relationship with Engineering Education Australia has resulted in better alignment of EEA's course offerings with Chartered Status needs. 
• The results of this new approach can be seen with an increased uptake of Chartered Status at higher levels within the PDP organisations, and increased activity generally within the PDP. This momentum is expected to continue through 2009-10.
• A record 2,260 engineers joined the PDP in 2008-09, an increase of 32% over the previous year. At 30 June 2009, there were more than 6,300 participants in the program.

Maintaining industry liaison

• Engineers Australia's Industry Liaison Team now has six members working across the Divisions. The team took part in over 340 meetings with 280 organisations and delivered presentations to over 5,000 members and prospective members, including the first visit to Tasmania Division.
• Industry liaison activity doubled from the previous year. This has resulted in excellent growth in all areas of the PDP program and has contributed to membership growth.
• Currently 327 companies and other entities are participating organisations, including many of Australia's leading employers of engineers. 
• The Australian Defence Forces strongly supports the PDP and Chartered Status, and has recently signed a threeyear umbrella ‘All Of Defence' agreement with Engineers Australia until August 2012.

Assessments for Chartered Status

• Numbers attending Chartered Status workshops and submitting Career Episode Reports increased from last year.
• There was an encouraging 12% recovery in the number of awards of Chartered Status during the year. For most Divisions, new Chartered members exceeded expected numbers, and more members are offering to act as volunteer expert panellists for assessment interviews.

Linking competence and registration

• A little over 2,800 CPD and practice audit notices were issued in the year to 30 June. Almost 800 members have relinquished CPEng or qualified the postnominal CPEng(Retired) or similar.
• An additional National Assessor has been appointed in Queensland to help with increased workload due to Engineers Australia's continuing appointment as an assessment entity for RPEQ.

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