Ingenieur Vol.72 ingenieur October 2017-FA3 | Page 18

INGENIEUR
Engineering Technicians
The third category in the engineering team is the
engineering technician. They are graduates who
possess diplomas of engineering technology
or engineering. They are often hired to work
as engineering technicians in various fields
such as product design, testing, development,
systems engineering, field engineering, technical
operations, quality control, and so on. Engineering
technicians implement engineering technology
works by applying engineering knowledge
combined with technical skills to support
engineering technology activities. Their areas
of interest in education are typically application
oriented, while being somewhat less theoretical
than their engineering counterparts. They
typically focus their activities on applied design,
using current engineering practices. Engineering
Technicians play key roles in an engineering
team. Their involvement is mainly in product
development, manufacturing, product assurance,
sales and programme management (Engineering
Technician Education Programme Accreditation
Manual 2016).
Role of BEM in Programme Accreditation
The Malaysia Qualifications Agency under the
MQA Act (2007) is empowered to accredit higher
educational programmes and qualifications
in Malaysia. However, programmes that fall
under the ambit of professional bodies, i.e.
undergraduate engineering, engineering
technology and engineering or engineering
technology diploma (technician) programmes,
need to be accredited by the Board of Engineers
(BEM). The power to conduct such accreditation
is mandated by law under the Registration of
Engineers Act 1967 (Revised 2015). This is
for the registration, with the BEM, of graduate
engineers, engineering technologist, and
inspector of works (IOW) to legalise those who
want to practice in these professions. Registration
with the BEM is compulsory for persons who want
to take up employment which requires him to
perform professional engineering services in the
case of the graduate engineers and engineering
technologists; or take up employment which
requires him to assist the Professional Engineer in
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the supervision of engineering works in the case
of the inspector of works.
The Engineering Accreditation Council (EAC)
and the Engineering Technology Accreditation
Council (ETAC) are bodies delegated by the BEM to
conduct accreditation of engineering programmes,
and engineering technology or engineering and
engineering diploma programmes respectively.
The EAC and ETAC were established in 2000 and
2015, respectively. Three accreditation manuals
have been established as follows: EAC Engineering
Programme Accreditation Manual (2017), EAC
Engineering Technology Programme Accreditation
Manual (2015), and EAC Engineering Technician
Education Programme Accreditation Manual
(2016). All IHLs (public or private) must fulfil the
requirements stipulated in these accreditation
manuals to be accredited by the BEM. These
accreditation manuals have been strongly based
on international benchmarking and standards
especially with regards to the graduate attributes
requirements set by the International Engineering
Alliance (IEA).
International Engineering Alliance
The International Engineering Alliance (IEA) has
established three educational agreements, i.e.
the Washington (WA), Sydney (SA) and Dublin
(DA) Accords for the engineers, engineering
technologist, and engineering technicians in
1989, 2001, and 2002 respectively. In addition,
the IEA has also established three competence
or mobility agreements, i.e. International
Professional Engineers Agreement (IPEA), Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Engineers
Agreement, and International Engineering
Technologist Agreement (IETA) in 1997, 2000,
and 2001, respectively. These accords and
agreements are for the mutual recognition
of accredited educational programmes and
engineering professionals among its signatories.
In view of the substantial equivalency, the IEA has
established and set the benchmarks/standards
of graduate attributes and professional
competencies (IEA 2013) for the various accords
and agreements (IEA 2013). This article focuses
on the educational accords. Figure 2 summarises
the education accords and practice agreements.