If you started a bachelor’s degree in or after 1999, you may need to complete a period of Further Learning to bring your academic qualification up to the 'benchmark level', in order to meet the requirements for professional registration as a Chartered Engineer (CEng) or Incorporated Engineer (IEng).
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Further Learning is only appropriate for engineers who need to bring their academic qualification up to the required academic benchmark for their chosen category of professional registration.
Not all engineers who are working towards professional registration need to complete Further Learning.
To find out whether you'll need to do Further Learning, you should complete our online Qualification checker. We’ll check your qualifications and let you know what the next steps are.
If you’re already established in your career and ready to apply for full membership, but don’t hold the relevant academic qualifications, email us at membership@imeche.org to discuss whether you could demonstrate your retrospective knowledge gained in the workplace during your career. If this is the case, you wouldn’t be required to complete any Further Learning.
Further Learning lets you reach the academic level required to become professionally registered, through academic courses, work-based courses or a combination of these. For CEng registration, you must have attained the equivalent of a master's level qualification. For IEng registration, you must have reached a bachelor’s level qualification. Whether or not you’re already working as an engineer, there are several options you can choose from to help you reach the required academic level for professional registration. You can:
The Engineering Council sets the academic benchmark levels for each professional registration category. Each academic benchmark level is defined by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA).
In most cases we would expect you to complete your Further Learning in less than four years.
If you already have a bachelor’s level qualification and are looking to meet the academic requirement for CEng registration, you could choose a Distance Learning programme.
Distance Learning lets you complete a combination of approved modules from a range of universities remotely. Work-based learning is not taken into consideration with this option.
This allows you to:
Find out more about our Distance Learning approved modules, including who the participating universities are and descriptions of the modules.
To apply for Distance Learning, you’ll need to complete the Approved Distance Learning application form and read the CEng Further Learning guidance.
An individual Further Learning plan lets you meet the academic requirement for professional registration by blending work-based learning and university course modules. You can complete this route to Further Learning within your own time frame.
Individual Further Learning plans must be assessed by us via a postal review. We send copies to our committee members for their comments and email you the results – i.e. whether the plan is suitable – around 6-8 weeks after submission.
If the plan isn’t suitable, reviewing members will give you their comments and let you know which sections to improve.
There’s no cost for the assessment.
Get started by downloading the forms for individual Further Learning plans for CEng and IEng professional registration:
Don’t use these forms if you’re on an Approved company-based or Accredited university Further Learning scheme.
For more information, see our Further Learning information pack, which includes a knowledge checklist and advice on how to prepare your plan.
Download a sample individual Further Learning plan.
See the form that assessors use to review work-based learning criteria.
Use our Qualification checker to check the status of a course.
Contact the membership team if you have any questions about Further Learning.
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