Member Assessment Guidance Member Assessment Guidance Institution of Civil Engineers
Contents Introduction... 3 Is the member assessment the right application for you?... 3 Getting started... 3 What do I have to send?... 4 Application form... 4 Academic qualifications... 4 Extended CV... 5 Professional experience... 5 Support from a mentor... 5 Unspent convictions... 6 Attribute achievement form... 6 Appendices... 6 Plagiarism... 6 Collusion... 7 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) records... 7 Paying the application fee... 7 You can view the fees page on our website to see if you are eligible to pay a reduced rate.... 7 Submitting your application... 8 Assessment and result... 8 If you re asked for more information about your experience... 9 Demonstrating attributes at Professional Review... 9 More information and support... 10 Appendix A Evidence required of academic qualifications... 11 Appendix B Evidence required of academic qualifications from mainland China... 12 Appendix C How to certify copies of documents and English translations... 14 Appendix D Finding sponsors for your Professional Review... 17 2 Member Assessment Guidance
Introduction The member assessment is a combined assessment of your academic qualifications and experience. It will let you know if you are ready to apply for a Professional Review at your preferred grade and, if not, what other options you have. It s for non-members of ICE who are experienced engineers and would like to apply for a Chartered Professional Review for CEng MICE, or a Member Professional Review for IEng MICE, but whose qualifications have not been confirmed as eligible for CEng or IEng registration. After the assessment, you ll automatically become an ICE Graduate Member 1. Is the member assessment the right application for you? If you already have confirmation from ICE that your academic qualification is eligible for your preferred grade (IEng or CEng) you should complete your initial professional development before applying for Professional Review instead of applying for member assessment. If you have already completed the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers training scheme A for civil or geotechnical engineers, you should apply directly for Chartered Professional Review (note: if you commence a HKIE scheme A after 1 st January 2017, you will need 12 months post completion experience before applying) If you are a current ICE Graduate Member, or are currently undertaking an ICE training agreement or mentor-supported training, or HKIE training scheme A in the civil or geotechnical discipline you cannot apply for member assessment. Please contact member.assessment@ice.org.uk for advice on your options. If you re already professionally qualified as a civil engineer with another institution or in another EU member state, you may be eligible to apply for recognition of that qualification or directly for Professional Review instead. Please check How to become a member of ICE for your options If you don t hold any academic qualifications, you should make a stage 1 application for Technical Report Review instead Getting started Before you start, you ll need an ICE membership number. If you don t already have one, you ll need to create a non-member account by registering on MyICE. This will enable you to make payments online and access information on our website that s been tailored to your particular interests. You will find your membership number within My Profile in your MyICE account. When you register, please take the time to complete the diversity section in My Profile as an online alternative to the equal opportunities monitoring form in the member assessment application. The information you provide will only be used in an aggregated form and you will never be individually identifiable. You can opt to decline to answer each or any of the questions if you wish. 1 If there is any reason why you can t be a Graduate Member after our assessment, we will explain this to you and refund the subscription part of the fee. 3 Member Assessment Guidance
What do I have to send? To apply for this assessment, you need to pay the application fee online and then send us: The member assessment application form 2 Certified copies of your academic qualifications and related documents An extended CV Evidence of your professional experience, which you show by completing: o An attribute achievement form o Appendices Continuing professional development (CPD) records Please refer to the section below on submitting your application for details of the format to send these in. Application form Download the application form for member assessment from our website. At the start of the form we ask you to state which grade of membership you are aiming for so that we can confirm whether you are eligible to make a Professional Review application for that grade. We also ask you to let us know when and where you d like your eventual Professional Review interview to be held. This information is only to assist us with planning and doesn t commit you or ICE to any future arrangements. Please check our key membership dates to find out when and where we hold review sessions. You can also ask to sit your review in a location that s not listed, but we can't guarantee it will be possible. If we can t accommodate you in your preferred centre, you ll be given the opportunity to sit your review in another centre. At smaller centres, where there may be limited capacity, priority is given to local candidates. You should apply for a member assessment at least 6 months before the application date for your intended review session, to allow time for any further preparation that may be advised as a result of the assessment. If further assessment or additional work experience is needed before you can proceed to Professional Review you may have to wait until a later session. Please refer to the section below on assessment and result for the possible outcomes. Academic qualifications You need to provide evidence for each of your academic qualifications so we can check whether you have the required level of academic knowledge for your preferred grade. ICE may contact your university or college to verify the authenticity of your qualification. If any qualifications are identified as fraudulent your application will be rejected. 2 Including the equal opportunities monitoring form, unless you have completed the diversity section in your MyICE My Profile. 4 Member Assessment Guidance
Please refer to appendix A for the evidence required depending on the type of qualification you hold. Applicants with qualifications from mainland China should refer to appendix B. Copies of original documents will need to be certified as true copies. If any of those are not in English, you must also provide a certified English translation. Please refer to appendix C for guidance on how to certify your copies and translations. The following additional information may also assist your application: If you ve completed part of a qualification but not the full programme, please include a letter from the course provider If you ve completed part of a programme at a different university, please include a letter from the awarding university Extended CV Your extended CV should be up to four sides of A4 pages long. It should outline your employment history and the main projects that you have worked on. It should focus on the roles you have had and the experience you have gained. You need to demonstrate how you have developed through your career and that you are now working at an appropriate level for the grade of membership you are applying for. Professional experience As part of this assessment, you need to demonstrate the attributes required for your initial professional development (IPD). Rather than record the attributes as you go (as someone on an ICE Training Agreement would), you should already have enough experience to tell us how you ve achieved them throughout your career 3. You do this by sending us an attribute achievement form and appendices. The evidence you submit needs to show that you have the same level of skill, knowledge and experience as someone who has completed an ICE Training Agreement for the same grade of membership. Support from a mentor Mentors can give you support and guidance in preparing your application. Your mentor can be any senior engineer who is able and can make the commitment to provide guidance. If possible, they should also be an ICE member qualified at the equivalent grade or higher to the grade you re planning to apply for. Your mentor should also, ideally, understand our procedures and standards so that they can assess your competence and advise you on your submission. It s also helpful if they re familiar with your work and can verify and sign your attribute achievement form. It s not compulsory to have a mentor, but it will strengthen your application because they can verify the information you provide. 3 If you do not have sufficient experience to do this, you should consider completing your IPD Online by signing up to an employer-led training agreement or mentor-supported training instead. 5 Member Assessment Guidance
When you proceed to the Professional Review you ll need three sponsors to support your application. The lead sponsor must be an ICE member at the equivalent grade or higher than the grade you re applying for. If possible your mentor should be your lead sponsor. Please refer to appendix D for more information about finding sponsors for your Professional Review. Unspent convictions No person with an unspent conviction relating to a Serious Criminal Offence* will be admitted to any grade of membership unless there are special circumstances that show beyond reasonable doubt that the person is a fit and proper person to be admitted to membership of the Institution. If you have an unspent conviction relating to a serious criminal offence, please complete the criminal convictions form which must also be signed by your sponsors, and submitted with your application, a member of staff will contact you directly and in confidence. * Serious Criminal Offence means an offence involving dishonesty or deception or any offence punishable by a Court of competent jurisdiction by a term of imprisonment of 12 months or more (whether or not any custodial sentence is in fact imposed). Attribute achievement form The attribute achievement form is used to record how you ve achieved each attribute for the level of membership you d like to apply for. The form gives detailed advice on how to demonstrate the attributes. Typically, we would expect to see between three and six examples of each attribute. The final page of the attribute achievement form should be signed and dated by your mentor. If you don t have a mentor, you can sign the form yourself. Appendices Appendices help to show the assessors examples of your work and the extent of your experience. Where possible, they should be referenced to your attribute achievement form with hyperlinks. The appendices should contain no more than: Three drawings, which should be legible when printed at A3 size and relevant to your attribute statements Twelve A4 sides of additional information, including any relevant calculations Plagiarism Plagiarism is presenting the work of others as your own. This means using words or ideas, for example, without the permission of the original author or authors, or without their acknowledgement. Plagiarism should be avoided at all times and this includes any reports, drawings and presentations that you submit. Here are some guidelines to help avoid plagiarism: Don t cut and paste material from others Where you have directly quoted others, or the work of others, attribute the source fully and, where appropriate, use quotation marks. As a rule of thumb, material derived from others should be considered a quote, unless it s assumed to be common knowledge for example, standard equations that are in the public domain 6 Member Assessment Guidance
Plagiarism is taken seriously by the ICE. Should there be concerns with your submission, ICE will investigate including using plagiarism detection software. If this shows significant levels of similarity with any unattributed sources you will be contacted by the ICE and asked to provide an explanation. Collusion In the context of your submission, collusion is any agreement to conceal someone else s contribution to your piece of work. The guidance above equally applies to avoiding collusion. Plagiarism and collusion may lead to a ban on applying for membership or, for existing members, permanent expulsion from ICE Membership. If an allegation of plagiarism or collusion is made relating to your application for membership, your result may be delayed until an investigation has taken place. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) records When you apply for your member assessment, you ll need to show a commitment to continuing professional development (CPD). You do this by submitting a current development action plan (DAP) and a personal development record (PDR) for at least the last three years. Your development action plan (DAP) looks ahead and must contain your personal development objectives for at least 12 months ahead Your personal development record (PDR) should describe all the formal and informal training you ve undertaken over the last three years or more. As a guide, you should have at least 30 CPD hours per year When you apply for a member assessment, you should have achieved the following minimum hours of CPD: 90 hours CPD for IEng MICE 180 hours for CEng MICE This should include current formal training related to health, safety and welfare. You can find out more in our CPD guidance document, which includes templates for your DAP and PDR. Paying the application fee You need to pay a non-refundable fee before you apply for a member assessment. You can pay the fee online using a credit card or UK debit card. Please go to the application fees webpage and select the pay online button for the member assessment. You will need a MyICE account to make this payment. Once you ve paid online you ll receive a payment confirmation email which contains an eight digit reference number. Please include this reference number in the fee section of the application form. If you re unable to pay online, please contact the ICE Membership Services Team for alternative ways to pay on +44 (0)20 7665 2227 or by emailing subs@ice.org.uk You can view the fees page on our website to see if you are eligible to pay a reduced rate. 7 Member Assessment Guidance
Submitting your application Your application and supporting documents must be sent in the following format: One self-contained PDF file No larger than 10mb A4-sized (A3 is suitable for drawings if required) The filename must include your ICE membership number, surname and initials for example: 62200093_BLOGGS_JW Use an appropriate font and text size Ensure that the final document is printable and legible. Please group together all documents related to each separate academic qualification (eg the certificate, its translation, mark-sheet, its translation, one-page summary). Please email the file to member.assessment@ice.org.uk by your chosen closing date (see below). Assessment and result Member assessments are undertaken on a monthly basis and the closing date for applications is the first of every month. Please allow up to 12 weeks from the closing date to receive your result. You ll need to plan sufficient time from receiving your result to prepare your Professional Review application. The assessment will be done by experienced ICE members, who will decide whether the combination of your qualifications and experience mean you are ready to apply for Professional Review at your preferred grade. You may not be able to apply for your intended Review session if the result is that more information, further learning or further work experience is required for your preferred grade. Admission to Graduate Membership After we have assessed your application, you ll automatically become an ICE Graduate Member 4. The application fee includes part-payment for the annual subscription fee for Graduate Membership. When you receive your result letter you ll have three months to pay the balance to retain your Graduate Membership. If you paid the reduced application fee, there will be no balance to pay for your subscription. If you don t pay the balance within three months, or if you don t maintain your Graduate Membership by paying subsequent annual subscriptions, your membership will lapse and you may need to re-apply for assessment before you can proceed to Professional Review 5. If you re eligible for Professional Review If we assess that you have the qualifications and experience for your chosen grade, we ll send you a result letter, by email, inviting you to make a Professional Review application. The result letter may point out where your evidence of achieving the attributes wasn t particularly strong. These comments will help you prepare for the Professional Review, so you can discuss them with your mentor and sponsors. The result letter must be shown to the lead sponsor for your Professional Review application who has to declare that they have seen it and that, as far as they can tell, you ve 8 Member Assessment Guidance
addressed the comments in the result letter. Your result letter must also be submitted with your application for Professional Review so your reviewers will see any comments in it. If your qualifications do not meet the requirements for your chosen grade If we assess that your qualifications do not meet the requirements for your chosen grade of membership, we ll let you know if you need to do any further learning or if there are alternative options. We ll also confirm whether you can apply for Professional Review at a different grade in the meantime. This will allow you to progress to your chosen grade at a later date if you choose to. You may be given an alternative option to use the Technical Report Route, instead of Professional Review. This would allow you to write a technical report, which shows that you ve gained the necessary technical knowledge and understanding through your professional experience, rather than with a formal academic qualification. If you choose this option you won t have to make a formal stage 1 application, but you will need to send a synopsis of your technical report and confirmation of mentor support back to us for further assessment before you can proceed to stage 2. 4 If there is any reason why you can t be a Graduate Member after our assessment, we will explain this to you and refund the subscription part of your fee. 5 For examples if any change is made to the academic standards or requirements for your chosen grade whilst you are lapsed. If you re asked for more information about your experience If we assess that you haven t demonstrated sufficient experience for your chosen grade, this may be because you need to provide additional information or you may need to gain more experience. You should discuss your options with your mentor. Any extra information you submit will be assessed (at no additional cost) within the next available cycle of assessments, which may delay your intended application date for Professional Review. You ll need to clearly list the changes and additional information that has been sent, or show it in the margins of your revised documents. If you don t submit the additional information within six months, you ll need to re-send all the professional experience documents from your original application. This must show how you ve addressed the assessors comments. In certain cases you may be invited to meet with your Membership Recruitment Team for advice on your application before proceeding. Demonstrating attributes at Professional Review Passing a member assessment means that you have the required qualifications and appropriate experience to apply for your chosen grade of membership but it doesn t guarantee your success at a Professional Review. 9 Member Assessment Guidance
At your Professional Review you ll have to demonstrate the attributes on the day in a report, presentation, interview and written exercise. More information and support Our Membership Recruitment Teams (MRTs) can give you advice and guidance on all aspects of your member assessment. Please email membershiprecruitment@ice.org.uk or call +44 (0)121 237 3648 / 3649 for help. It s a good idea to listen to a member assessment webinar before preparing your application. Please check our professional qualification webinars webpage for details of any live or recorded seminars that you can access. 10 Member Assessment Guidance
Appendix A Evidence required of academic qualifications Qualification type Documents required Higher National Certificate (HNC)/Higher National Diploma (HND)/National Diploma (ND)/National Certificate (NC)/Foundation Degree (FD)/Diploma Bachelor s degree Postgraduate Certificate/Postgraduate Diploma Master s degree Doctor of Philosophy/Engineering Doctorate Proposed or in progress qualifications - If you re currently studying, or intending to study, a programme at a college or university (for example an MSc or a PhD), and would like it to be considered in your application, you should include the information with your application. You will be advised on the suitability of the programme for your preferred grade. Certified copy of your certificate Official transcript (mark-sheet) or official list of modules Certified English translations where relevant Certified copy of your degree certificate Official transcript (mark-sheet) or official list of modules Title and one page summary of your final year project Certified English translations where relevant Certified copy of your degree certificate Official transcript (mark-sheet) or official list of modules Certified English translations where relevant Certified copy of your degree certificate Official transcript (mark-sheet) or official list of modules Title and one-page summary of your dissertation Certified English translations where relevant Certified copy of your degree certificate Title and one-page summary of your dissertation Certified English translations where relevant A copy of your enrolment letter A list of modules completed or to be completed for each year Start date and expected end date of the programme Certified English translations where relevant Qualifications from mainland China Please refer to Appendix B 11 Member Assessment Guidance
Appendix B Evidence required of academic qualifications from mainland China Qualification type Diploma (Zhuanke or Dazhuan or Gaozhi) Bachelor s degree (Xueshi) Postgraduate certificate Master s degree (Shuoshi) Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Engineering Doctorate (EngD) (or equivalent) (Boshi) Documents required Certified copy of your original graduation certificate (Diploma) Certified English translation of your graduation certificate Copy of your official transcript (mark-sheet) or an official list of modules, issued by the awarding college/university Certified English translation of your transcript or list of modules Certified copy of your original graduation certificate Certified English translation of your graduation certificate Certified copy of your original degree certificate Certified English translation of your degree certificate Copy of your official transcript (mark-sheet) or an official list of modules, issued by the awarding college/university Certified English translation of your transcript or list of modules Title and one-page summary of your final year project/dissertation, written in English Certified copy of your original postgraduate certificate of graduation Certified English translation of your postgraduate certificate of graduation Copy of your official transcript (mark-sheet) or an official list of modules, issued by the awarding college/university Certified English translation of your transcript or list of modules Certified copy of your original master s degree Certificate Certified English translation of your master s degree certificate Copy of your official transcript (mark-sheet) or an official list of modules, issued by the awarding college/university Certified English translation of your transcript or list of modules Title and one-page summary of your final year project/dissertation, written in English Certified copy of your original PhD/EngD certificate Certified English translation of your PhD/EngD certificate Copy of your official transcript (marksheet) or an official list of modules, issued by the awarding college/university. If your PhD/EngD programme did not have a taught component then you will not be required to submit an official transcript. Please add a note explaining this in the 12 Member Assessment Guidance
additional information section on the application form Certified English translation of your transcript or list of modules Title and one-page summary of your final year project/dissertation, written in English. If there was no requirement for a project/dissertation within your PhD/EngD, please add a note explaining this in the additional information section on the application form Proposed or in progress qualifications - If you re currently studying, or intending to study, a programme at a college or university (for example an MSc or a PhD), and would like it to be considered in your application, you should include the information with your application. You will be advised on the suitability of the programme for your preferred grade. A copy of your enrolment letter A list of modules completed or to be completed for each year Start date and expected end date of the programme Certified English translations where relevant 13 Member Assessment Guidance
Appendix C How to certify copies of documents and English translations Copies of your qualification documents can be certified by: your university lecturer a senior member of your employing company a solicitor, or a corporate ICE member (qualified MICE, AMICE or FICE). They must write the following statement in blue or black pen directly onto the copy of the document: I confirm this to be a true copy of this applicant's qualification and I recommend them for Graduate Membership of the ICE Signature Name (clearly printed) Date Employing organisation/university or college Position A contact telephone number or email address ICE Membership number (if applicable) English translations of your qualification documents can be certified by: an official translator your university lecturer a senior member of your employing company a solicitor, or a corporate ICE member (qualified MICE or FICE). They must write the following statement in blue or black pen directly onto the translated document: I hereby certify that I translated this into English and that, to the best of my ability, it is a true and correct translation. I further certify that I am competent in English to render and certify such translation Signature Name (clearly printed) Date Employing organisation/university or college Position A contact telephone number or email address ICE Membership number (if applicable) 14 Member Assessment Guidance
Examples of certified copies 15 Member Assessment Guidance
Example of a certified translation 16 Member Assessment Guidance
Appendix D Finding sponsors for your Professional Review When you eventually apply for Professional Review, you ll need three sponsors to support your application. These sponsors must meet particular requirements, which are explained in the Professional Review sponsor questionnaire. Even though you don t need sponsors to apply for a member assessment, we recommend that you decide now who will they will be. If you don t have suitable sponsors ready, your Professional Review application will be delayed considerably. It is your personal responsibility as a candidate to identify suitable sponsors but this can sometimes be a challenge, particularly for the lead sponsor, if you don t work directly with ICE members. If you don t think you know anybody that meets the requirements, you should first check whether any of your work colleagues or contacts are members, as they will already have a good knowledge of you and your work. You can also use our members directory to check for ICE members by name, grade, location or employer. Alternatively, you may need to start networking with ICE members, for example by attending ICE events in your region. You can find out more about events near you on the regional pages of our website. If you re still unable to find any suitable sponsors, please contact us for advice, by emailing membership@ice.org.uk. 17 Member Assessment Guidance
Institution of Civil Engineers Member Assessment Guidance Our vision Civil engineers at the heart of society, delivering sustainable development through knowledge, skills and professional expertise. Core purpose To develop and qualify professionals engaged in civil engineering To exchange knowledge and best practice for the creation of a sustainable and built environment To promote our contribution to society worldwide Diversity statement As a membership organisation and an employer, we value diversity and inclusion - a foundation for great engineering achievement Institution of Civil Engineers One Great George Street Westminster London SW1P 3AA t +44 (0)20 7222 7722 f +44(0)20 7222 7500 ice.org.uk Registered charity number 210252. Charity registered in Scotland number SC038629. Printed on paper made from sustainable resources.