The ongoing debate

56 years ago I became aware of an ongoing debate among IMechE members about the status of engineers and the misuse of the title “Engineer”

To the best of my recollection, it is some 56 years since I joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as a student member.

Soon afterwards, I became aware of an ongoing debate among members about the status of engineers and the misuse of the title “Engineer”.

Yet today (“Grades will set us apart” et. al., PE dated November 2013) the same debate, with the same frustrations, is still ongoing, with one of the proposed solutions being the establishment in law of the right to the title being limited to accredited engineers.

Such a law would, I assume, need an act of Parliament and I would like to understand what, if anything, the great and good of our Institution is actually doing to bring this about. Surely the IMechE, which represents a body of people who are, according to what we read in the papers, essential to the future prosperity of the country, ought to have the ear of Government and the authority to apply the necessary pressure.

There would appear to be no better moment to do this than the present, when the importance of engineering as a career choice seems to have belatedly occurred to Government.

Do we have an established policy on this matter?

Paul Pearce, Escrick, Yorkshire

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