Degree Accreditation
If you are applying for admission to a university, or thinking of doing so, it is worthwhile to think now about the degree that you will get - not just how good a degree, but what kind of degree.
Will your degree get you the extent of professional recognition that you need? Getting the right kind of degree now can save you a lot of time, trouble and expense later on. Our MEng and BEng courses are the right kind, in that they carry a high level of accreditation.
One day, you might wish to apply to become a Chartered Engineer, or for exemption from professional examinations. Why should you do this? Well, in some areas of employment accreditation is not important - but in others it is, and it can be vitally important. Some employers, or clients, or countries require that certain kinds of project be managed by professional engineers (that is, chartered engineers in the UK, registered engineers in some states of the USA, and so on).
In order to become a Chartered Engineer (CEng), you need to have satisfied certain requirements set down by Engineering Council UK, in a document called UK-SPEC. These requirements involve:
- education,
- training, and
- experience.
To fulfil the education requirement, you will need to have obtained at least a class 2(ii) degree in an appropriate course.
By the time you graduate, you are likely also to have fulfilled some part of the training requirement, particularly if you have undertaken an undergraduate industrial placement.
- An accredited MEng completely fulfils the UK–SPEC educational requirement for Chartered Engineer, on its own.
- An accredited BEng, on the other hand, would require a Master's degree, or other Master's-level learning, in addition.
For those reasons, we say that our MEng courses are fully accredited for Chartered Engineer, while our BEng courses are partially accredited.
Applying to become a Chartered Engineer (CEng)
You can apply to become a Chartered Engineer (CEng) after you have graduated.
To have your degree recognised (by an appropriate body) as an educational qualification for CEng, you would need either:
- to be able to say that the course from which you had graduated was accredited for CEng, or
- to apply as an individual to have your degree recognised.
Obviously, it is easier for you if you have graduated from a CEng-accredited course. Our MEng and BEng courses are CEng-accredited to the fullest extent possible; or, in the case of our recently introduced courses, such accreditation is being applied for.
- an accredited MEng completely fulfils the UKSPEC educational requirement for Chartered Engineer, on its own;
- an accredited BEng, on the other hand, would require a Master's degree, or other Master's-level learning, in addition.
What does it mean to be chartered? A member of the BCS explains.
EC(UK), IET and BCS
Engineering Council (EC) UK conducts accreditation though its constituent bodies - in our case:
Panels from these bodies visit us every few years, for the purpose of assessing the suitability of our courses for accreditation.
Exemption from BCS professional examinations
Please note that exemption from an institution's professional examinations is not the same thing as accreditation for Chartered Engineer.
- the British Computer Society (BCS) conducts its own professional examinations;
- our MEng and BEng courses both give you full exemption from the BCS Professional Examination.
Our other undergraduate courses
Our BSc course in Computer Science carries partial accreditation for CEng in just the same way as our BEng course (that is, with only a Master's degree or other Master's-level learning required to `top up' for obtaining Chartered Engineer status). It is treated by the IET and the BCS in just the same way as our BEng course.
The advantage of opting (at your choice) for the BEng degree when you graduate is that it shows the world that you possess a CEng-partially-accredited degree, without your having to make the point of explaining it every time, as you might with a BSc degree. Indeed, if you are applying for a job through a web site, you often have the opportunity only to answer questions that you are asked, and not to supply information that is relevant and important but that you have not been asked for: in that case, having a BEng rather than a BSc can be a great help to you.
Our BSc and MMath courses in Computer Science combined with Mathematics:
- do not carry any accreditation for CEng,
- nor do they automatically exempt you from any of the BCS professional examinations,
- but graduates from these courses are encouraged (by the BCS) to apply as individuals, after graduation, specifying what options they took, and what finals project they carried out.
