Bulletin 07/04: 30 July 2004 

 

THE IEE PLANS MERGER WITH THE IIE

 

Sir David Brown President of The IEE has written out to all members as follows:

 

“For most of last year and the early part of this year, our Institution, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and the Institution of Incorporated Engineers (IIE) engaged in exploratory discussions with a view to merging our three Institutions.  Those tripartite discussions ended in March, but in the course of them our Institution and the IIE developed a shared vision of engineering in the 21st century and the part that learned societies must play in realising it.

 

Therefore our Board of Trustees, fully supported by our Council, has discussed with the Trustees of the IIE the bringing together of the IEE and the IIE to create a new kind of Institution attuned to the needs of engineering and the 21st century society which it serves and of which it is a vital part.

 

The vision has three cornerstones; interdisciplinarity, inclusiveness and globalisation.

 
Interdisciplinarity is not the same as multidisciplinarity.  Engineers have always worked as members of multidisciplinary teams, comprising individuals from several distinct disciplines.  Yet increasingly, individual engineers are being required to master new bodies of knowledge which are in part amalgams of the traditional engineering disciplines, and in part new and beyond those traditional disciplines. In short, they are being required to be interdisciplinary.

 
Inclusiveness recognises that engineering success requires competence and innovation at every stage of the engineering life cycle; from research and development, through design and manufacturing, and into operation and maintenance.  An Institution which welcomes all professionals, regardless of the stages of the engineering life cycle in which they are engaged, is most likely to serve its members and society well.

 

The globalisation of engineering has brought about a global flow of engineering knowledge.  An essential role of a modern Institution is to enable its members to both tap into and contribute to that knowledge flow, wherever in the world they are, and to harness modern information and communication technologies to help them to do it.

 

We are convinced that a positive and energetic response to this vision will create a vibrant Institution which will serve our existing members better; encourage new members to join; strengthen our influence with governments; and heighten society’s appreciation of engineering around the world.

 
Discussions have been held with the UK Minister for Science and Innovation regarding the title of the proposed new body, and he has indicated his support both for the concept of the new Institution and for it being known as the Institution of Engineering and Technology.  Therefore both we and the IIE intend to seek the agreement of members to the creation of the new Institution, and you will receive a detailed prospectus and voting papers once the Privy Council has confirmed, in principle, its willingness to confer the proposed title on the new Institution.

 

The title of the new Institution is important because it must both reflect the broad technological interests of the IEE and IIE today, and allow for the possibility of other Institutions joining at a later date.  With that in mind, I and the President of the IIE have written jointly to all of the other UK engineering Institutions to invite them to consider either joining us as founding members, if they can readily accept our prospectus and work to our timescales, or, if they have an interest in principle in joining, to agree a timescale, post-vesting, for detailed discussions.  Your Board of Trustees believes that this proposal is key to both the future of the IEE and the well-being of the engineering profession in the 21st century, and very much hopes that you will support it at the appropriate time.”

 

NEWS FROM US!

 

Web Updates

 

Tyla has made significant changes to this web site (www.afaq-eta.com) 

 

The Quality Management Systems ISO training courses throughout 2004/2005 and license arrangements have been separated from the power industry open learning courses and more information has been provided on them.  We now have license arrangements with providers in Brazil, China, Taiwan, Iran, Hungary and Korea and are discussing arrangements in Germany, India and Pakistan.

 

Brochures for all of the individual open learning courses are to be added soon.  A scroll bar has been added to help usage for certain screen definitions.  Previous bulletins are posted and it is still possible to sign up to free electronic news mail.  A comprehensive links page gives you access to all sorts of training related and official Government sites and is worth a look at.

 

 

 

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