SEFI & the Common Training Principles for Engineers EU initiative

DG for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission has contracted the development of proposals for Common Training Principles for Engineers (CTPE)  to the ECEC (European Council of Engineering Chambers) in a six-month project (Apr-Oct 2016) covering all EEA countries.

The concept of CTPE was introduced by Directive 2013/55/EU (amending Directive 2005/36 EC) on the recognition of professional qualifications. Though this project, EC aims to offer the possibility to extend the mechanism of automatic recognition to new professions based on commonly agreed training principles that can take the shape of a common training framework (Article 49a) or a common training test (Article 49b). The objective is to allow more professionals to move across the Member States through enlarging the scope of qualifications subjected to an automatic recognition. The project was developed based on mapping done in the Member States consulting the relevant stakeholders – five professional groups: Civil and Environmental Engineers, Mechanical and Industrial Engineers, Electrotechnology Engineers, Mining Engineers and Geodetic Surveyors.
The 27 October, the CTP stakeholders conference was organised in Vienna.
The revised draft of CTP proposal, together with the stakeholders consultation feedback was presented and discussed.
Discussion groups were organised with the participation of several representatives from national engineering organisations from UK, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, ENAEE..

The Chair of SEFI WG Quality and Accreditation, prof. Jolly (French CTI Vice-President), attended the conference and she will provide soon the SEFI BOD with a full report.

So far, the members of the SEFI Board of Directors are questioning this initiative and waiting for its results before taking a definitive stand-point.