In the year 2010 a group of European engineering associations under the lead of the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI) began issuing a professional card for engineers in Europe. The engineerING card ever since that day follows the aim to create more transparency on the European labour market for engineers and strengthen mobility of highly-qualified personnel by offering an instrument for the documentation and validation of engineering degrees, professional experience and further training. Thus, the engineerING card functions as an important addition to the Bologna process and works within the framework established by the European Commission in the field of recognition of professional experience and training. The system of the engineerING card is undergoing a constant development. Before the background of growing importance of non-formal and informal learning outcomes in the field of further training in the last few years, some FEANI member organisations came up with the idea of coping with those current trends, thus adding to the benefits the card has to offer to engineers in Europe. The coordination of the project lies with The Association of German Engineers (VDI) as the largest engineering association in Germany. In addition to the FEANI as the European umbrella organisation, engineering associations from Croatia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic will be partners in this project. Furthermore, the University of Porto, that has close ties with the Portuguese Ordem dos Engenheiros, will add its expertise as an outstanding research institution in the fields of engineering education and further training. All participating organisations have several years of project experience through cooperation on the engineerING card and other projects. Furthermore they bring with them a vast amount of knowledge and expertise in the areas of engineering education and continued professional development of engineers. The heart of the project is the multiphased creation of an overall concept for the documentation and validation of non-formal and informal learning outcomes followed by the integration of the concept into the existing framework of the engineerING card. This means overhauling all database systems and websites as well as the systematic revision and addition of all handbooks and internal working aids. During the whole process the close cooperation with all FEANI member organsations plays a major role. Furthermore, information and coordination processes with politicians and representatives of social partners on the European level are of the essence. For these reasons there will be multiplier events during the whole lifetime of the project. Thus, all stakeholders (engineering associations, trade unions, employers, politicians) will be integrated into the development of the project and play an active part in it. This will guarantee a broad acceptance and large publicity of the project results. Through a wide dissemination of the professional card transparency on the European labour market for engineers will grow. This will be highly beneficial for companies looking for qualified labour. In countries with a large surplus of highly-qualified personnel professional mobility will grow with the availability of an instrument that will simplify recognition processes. In the long run this will help to reduce the lack of available qualified personnel in other countries. For European political decision makers the engineerING card offers a prototype for a simple, non-bureaucratic and well-tested system for recognition of professional qualifications and training. The engineerING card may work as a blueprint for ensuing projects with similar goals.
In 2010, a number of European engineering associations, under the auspices of the European Federation of National Engineering Associations, FEANI, launched the introduction of a European Professional Card for engineers. Since then, the Engineering Card has increased transparency with regard to engineering qualifications within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), in that way actively promoting professional mobility. It is therefore an important element in the system of professional recognition established by the EU. The Engineering Card is subject to an ongoing process of further development. Taking into consideration that the importance of non-formal and informal learning outcomes has steadily increased in recent years, the idea emerged to adapt the Engineering Card to current trends, thereby enhancing its utility for engineers and companies alike in Europe. The key objective was to facilitate acquisition and validation of objectives acquired during the course of non-formal and informal learning by engineers within the system of the Engineering Card. VDI- The Association of German Engineers as the largest technical-scientific association in Europe has functioned as coordinator of the project. In addition to the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI), national engineering associations from Croatia (HIS), Slovenia (ZID) and the Czech Republic (CSVTS) were included as partners. In addition, the University of Porto (U.PORTO) has contributed its expertise as an outstanding research institution in the fields of engineering education and further training. All partners have extensive experience in project work, particularly in engineering and further training. The main activities during the project runtime can be divided into two main sections: The project’s core focus was the multi-stage development of an overall approach to documentation and validation of non-formal and informally acquired learning objectives. This was followed by an implementation phase, which included the technical integration of the plan in the form of a fully functional prototype in the existing VDI database. The first phase began with a comprehensive, systematic, state-of-the-art analysis at national and international level. During this process, the systems for documentation and validation of competence and learning objectives - technical and non-technical - that already exist were identified. Afterwards an analysis of these systems took place, in order to extract those elements suited to this project based on a best practice approach. These were then adapted to the specific abilities and learning outcomes of engineers so that the final version of the plan contains a documentation and validation system based on proven tools and methods that account for those requirements specific to the engineering environment. Following the plan’s completion, the implementation phase commenced. The first step was to draft a manual describing the entire process of application and processing in the context of the Engineering Card. This manual establishes a framework in terms of criteria, process and methodology and is in English. Based on the draft of the manual, a draft of “requirements and procedural principles” was subsequently prepared. These internal documents form a guideline for the employees of branch offices in the individual countries who are responsible for the specific application processing. These guidelines are written in the respective national languages. At the same time that the manual and guidelines were being developed, the technical implementation of the plan’s design took place. The transitioning of the future Engineering Card database from plan to prototype was executed in cooperation with the VDI IT experts, who had also been responsible for the development of the original database. As a result, a platform has been created that includes all new developments in addition to the previous functions. It is possible to transfer data to the existing databases of the partner organizations since they are based on the original VDI database. Throughout the process, coordination with the other FEANI member organizations was particularly important. In addition, the dissemination of information on the project played a significant role within the engineering community. Equally important was obtaining feedback from companies in industry. Overall, the development of a plan for the documentation and validation of learning objectives by engineers has been successful. This includes integration into the existing database. However, further measures are necessary to raise awareness about the product in the engineering community as well as in business and politics in order for the Engineering Card to become a recognized transparency and mobility aid in the long term.