International Engineering Technologist Agreement

Application Process for Organisations

The process of becoming a Full Member of the IETA is completed in two stages:

Stage One

Initially, an organisation will apply to become a Provisional Member. Provisional Members are organisations with or in the course of developing registers of professionally qualified engineering technologists in their own economies who intend to apply to be Full Members of the IETA.

Admission as a Provisional Member, however, does not imply and shall not be used to imply that any part of the organisation's register meets the requirements for Full Membership.

An organisation wishing to be a Provisional Member and must be nominated by two Full Members in writing, and will be accepted only upon a positive vote by at least two-thirds of the Full Members at a General Meeting of the IETA.

Stage Two

Full Members are organisations responsible for registers of those professionally qualified engineering technologists who have been assessed as eligible for independent practice within their own economy, and whose qualifications are based on academic achievement substantially equivalent to that of a graduate holding an engineering technology degree/diploma/certificate accredited by an organisation holding membership of the Sydney Accord, and who have been granted interim or full authorization to maintain a section of the International Register of Engineering Technologists.

The transfer of a Provisional Member to Full Member will involve mentoring by Full Members to assist in all aspects of the transfer process, but in particular, with the drafting of an Assessment Statement. Provisional Members are required to provide an Assessment Statement that sets out its current procedures and criteria for domestic registration and also its proposed procedures and criteria for admitting individual applicants to its section of the International Register of Engineering Technologists.

The Assessment Statement must ensure that the criteria required by the IETA International Register Co-Ordinating Committee are met. These requirements are as follows:

The Full Members agree to create and maintain a decentralised International Register of Engineering Technologists and to grant entry to that Register only to those practitioners who can demonstrate that they have:

• reached an overall level of academic achievement at the point of entry to the register in question which is substantially equivalent to that of a graduate holding an engineering technology degree/diploma/certificate accredited by an organisation holding full membership of, and acting in accordance with the terms of, the Sydney Accord

o Within an economy in which engineering technologists would not normally be expected to hold an engineering technology degree/diploma/certificate accredited under the Sydney Accord, practitioners may, in the context of the total assessment package, be considered to have met this standard by the point of entry to the Register when they have:

(a) completed a structured programme of engineering education which is accredited by a signatory organisation or by an agency authorised by the signatory organisation, which is independent of the education provider, and/or

(b) completed one or more written examinations set by an authorised body within an economy, provided that the accreditation procedures and criteria and/or the examination standards have been endorsed by all current signatories, or;

(c) satisfactorily completed an assessment and have been certified/registered/licensed to practise as an Engineering Technologist in the Applicants own economy through competency or outcomes based assessment or any other verification mechanism, within the framework of the IETA, that can be applied to assess the substantial equivalence of academic achievement through an alternative professional development route.

• gained a minimum of seven years practical experience since graduation; and
• spent at least two years in responsible charge of significant engineering work; and
• been assessed within their own economy as eligible for independent practice; and
• maintained their continuing professional development at a satisfactory level.

  Applicants must agree to be bound by the codes of professional conduct established and enforced by each economy within which they are practicing. Such codes normally require that practitioners place the health, safety and welfare of the community above their responsibilities to clients and colleagues, practice only within their fields of competence, and advise their clients if and when additional professional assistance becomes necessary to implement a programme or project.

  Applicants must further agree to be held individually accountable for their actions, both through requirements imposed by the licensing or registering authorities in the economies in which they practice and through legal processes. By applying for registration, applicants authorize the Full Member organisations to exchange such personal and other data as may be necessary to ensure that the application of a sanction or penalty in any economy in which an engineering technologist is registered or licensed to practice will be taken into account in deciding upon their continued designation and will be appropriately recorded in the Register.

The granting of interim authorization to develop and maintain a section of the International Register of Engineering Technologists requires the positive vote of at least two thirds of the Full Members voting at a General Meeting of the IETA International Coordinating Committee, following a comprehensive examination of the proposed procedures and criteria.