Mentoring helps to develop competent engineers and ensure best practice engineering for the future.
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The requirement for triennial training for mentors arose from concerns raised by both our Professional Development Standards Committee (who ratify MPDS schemes) and our Professional Review Committee (who ratify individual membership elections). Please do bear in mind that the concerns specified below arise from our experiences across all company schemes, and therefore do not necessarily specifically relate to your organisation.
These concerns fall into two categories:
For these reasons, the new training requirement has been instituted. However, we do want to be sure that this does not become an administrative burden on companies and individual members, which is why we have left the ‘evidence’ in effect the free text box. This free text box should be filled in with brief details of training undertaken e.g. IMechE training delivered in-house by xxxx xxxxxx on xx xxxx 20xx [date] / On-line mentor training module completed on (date) etc/Regional MPDS Mentor Training event attended on [date] etc.
What will happen in practice is that before a re-accreditation visit, the panel members will review, along with other documentation, the training record of the mentors, together with the ‘outcome’ evidence – i.e. that the number of successful candidates being elected falls within the norm. If they should find for example, that within a company no or few mentors are registering their training activities, and that the deferral rate of candidates is higher than the norm, this would be raised as an issue to be addressed at the visit. However, with strong, mature schemes we would be very surprised if this is the case, so have suggested that the training requirement can be met in a number of ways, including clients’ own internal activities, or by a variety of briefings provided by the Institution's staff or volunteers. Whatever the activity undertaken, we simply need to know what it is before the next accreditation visit.
We would expect both the IMechE members mentoring a Developing Engineer linked to an alternative PEI, or an alternative PEI member mentoring an IMechE Developing Engineer, to comply with this requirement. It is simply to ensure the Developing Engineers are being given proper support as they work through towards registration such that they have the best opportunity to gain their registration status as possible at the appropriate time.
To become a mentor to developing engineers under MPDS or SRS, or to become a delegate mentor, you need to:
If you have any questions, email: mpds@imeche.org.
Yes, they can still be your Mentor. Please note: IEng mentors should ensure that they are fully aware of the differences between the competences required for IEng and CEng:
When you are ready to apply for Chartership, your IEng Mentor can be your second sponsor, however you will also require a CEng sponsor to support your application.
For Chartered Engineer, typically four years’ worth of quarterly reports and annual assessments should be completed and submitted before applying for registration, however previous experience reduces this timeframe by the amount claimed.
For Incorporated Engineer, typically three years’ worth of quarterly reports and annual assessments should be completed and submitted before applying for registration, however previous experience reduces this timeframe by the amount claimed.
A minimum of two years must be spent on the scheme and the Developing Engineer must meet the competence requirements before applying for registration.
Get in touch if you have a question about becoming an MPDS or SRS mentor.