Professional registration
The Institution offers a number of professional grades of membership including Technician, Associate-Membership and Chartered membership which reflect the different responsibilities of members within an engineering team. Upon becoming professionally qualified with the Institution, members are strongly encouraged to gain additional professional registration with the Engineering Council.
The Institution of Structural Engineers is one of 36 licensed professional engineering institutions who are authorised to act (on behalf of the Engineering Council) as awarding bodies for the registration of its members to one of the following professional qualifications:
Registration with a licensed professional engineering institution is the UK Government's preferred means of identifying professionally qualified engineers both in the UK and internationally, and can provide the basis for acceptance of professional credentials by agencies and employers unfamiliar with the standing of professionally qualified structural engineers in the UK.
All candidates applying for registration must satisfy specific competence criteria set and maintained by the Engineering Council. These criteria are detailed in the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (
UK-SPEC). Furthermore, candidates can apply for registration only upon successful completion of the Institution's professional review and subsequent election to the relevant grade.
Registration and fees are collected by the Institution annually on behalf of the Engineering Council and, following receipt of the initial registration fee, relevant details are forwarded by the Institution to the Engineering Council. The Engineering Council will then make arrangements for the applicant's details to be included on the relevant section of the register, provide a registration number and will inform the applicant when the process has been completed.
The Engineering Council participates in additional international registration schemes including FEANI (European based), the International Register of Professional Engineers and the International Register of Engineering Technologists (
IntPE and
IntET respectively). Members are free to make their own arrangements to join these international registers if they so wish.
Further details on professional engineering qualifications in the UK can be found on the Engineering Council's website.
Mutual recognition agreements
The Institution has several
mutual recognition agreements with international engineering institutions which streamlines the process members must follow to gain membership and registration with the appropriate body in that region.