Engineer's degree


An engineer's degree is an advanced academic degree in engineering that is conferred in Europe, some countries of Latin America, North Africa and a few institutions in the United States. It may include a graduate thesis or dissertation at the level of research doctorates such as the PhD.

North America

Canada

Through the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board, Engineers Canada accredits Canadian undergraduate engineering programs that meet the standards of the profession. Graduates of those programs are deemed by the profession to have the required academic qualifications to pursue further training towards becoming a licensed professional engineer in Canada.
The P.Eng license is the ultimate qualification for the practicing professional engineering in Canada.
In Canada, A CEAB-accredited engineer degree is the minimum academic requirement for registration as a P.Eng anywhere in Canada and the standard against which all other engineering academic qualifications are measured.
A graduate of a non-CEAB-accredited program must demonstrate that his or her education is at least equivalent to that of a graduate of a CEAB-accredited program.

United States

In the United States, the engineer's degree normally requires a further year of study beyond a master's degree or two years from a bachelor's degree and often includes a requirement for a research thesis.
At the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School the thesis is required to be "more extensive and complete in problem scope and solution than a master's thesis", although "not necessarily meeting the test of original research and contribution to fundamental knowledge that is applied to PhD dissertations." At UCLA, the engineer degree is explicitly set at the level of the preliminary PhD examination, i.e. not including the research or thesis components.
Engineer degrees were originally first degrees at the same level as bachelor's degrees. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was empowered by its charter in 1824 to award Civil Engineer and Topographical Engineer degrees alongside the Bachelor in Science, and awarded the first Civil Engineer degrees in 1835. Civil Engineer degrees were also awarded by Dartmouth College, the University of Michigan and by Yale University, while Columbia University awarded Engineer of Mines degrees from 1867. By the early 20th century engineers degrees were commonly at graduate level – a survey by a committee of the Association of American Universities in 1916 found that this was the case in over two thirds of the universities surveyed. This led to a recommendation from the committee that engineers degrees be reserved for study beyond the level of a master's degree.

Latin America

In Latin America, a degree or title of "Ingeniero" is awarded after completing five years of college. This may be translated as "Engineer", however, its international academic equivalence depends on each country's educational system and can be compared to a six-year post-master's degree. Its award may imply obtaining a state licence to legally practice in the field or a professional certification outside the academic environment.

Chile

In Chile, the educational system does not strictly follow that of the United States. University education is structured in four cycles, as Licenciatura, Título Profesional, Magíster and Doctorado.
In this case, the engineer status is a general denomination for a person who has a professional title in engineering. The title is obtained after six years of study; in this way including a bachelor's degree in science, which is obtained after four years of study.
As in other countries, students only need to obtain the bachelor's degree to enter a master's degree or doctoral program, which commonly take two and three years, respectively. Since a professional title will take six years of study, after obtaining this title the graduate can enroll directly into a doctoral degree. In this manner, the international academic equivalence of a professional title in Chile corresponds to a six-year post-master's degree.

Mexico

In Mexico, the educational system follows closely that of the United States. University education is structured in three cycles, as Licenciatura, Maestría and Doctorado.
The Ingeniero degree is awarded depending on the nature of the studies pursued. In order to be called an Engineer, one must have passed certain courses related to engineering and been awarded a professional credential that certifies him or her as an engineer. The graduate has different abilities and capabilities related to the nature of the title Engineer. In this case, having a professional credential in engineering allows you to undertake various engineering-only activities and certifies the ability of the engineer to exercise their profession.
For engineering, completing all taught courses of a Licenciatura does not automatically award the graduate the title and licence of Ingeniero; for this, it depends on the name of the career and having the prefix Ingeniería attached to the name of the degree. It is the case that many people finish all courses in an engineering program, they obtain the diploma and title of Engineer and the professional credential, after getting their professional credential.
Degrees in engineering require four to five years to complete. After this, the graduate may enroll in a postgraduate program, such as a master's degree or in exceptional cases, directly into a doctoral degree.

Europe (prior to the Bologna Process)

Prior to the Bologna Process, In most countries of continental Europe, universities specializing in technical fields have traditionally awarded their students an engineer's degree after five years. This degree was typically the first university-awarded degree after finishing secondary education and completing it granted qualifications to further pursue a doctorate.
Following German custom in higher education, the engineer's degree is called Diplom. In addition to Germany itself, this system was common in states like Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Belgium

In Belgium, there are three types of engineering degrees:
Names are traditionally prefixed with the ir. and/or Ing. titles, although this practice is not as widespread as in the Netherlands. Use of these titles is regulated and protected by law.
Belgium is particularly noteworthy as having a system under which demands made on students of engineering are particularly severe.

Belarus and Ukraine

In Belarus and Ukraine, the degree is спеціаліст інженер, a first degree after five years of study.

Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Ex-Yugoslavia

In Croatia, the old system included the engineer's degrees diplomirani inženjer which was awarded by university faculties and a lower ranked engineer's degree inženjer which was awarded by polytechnics, in a similar vein to the situation in the Netherlands. The old dipl.ing. degree could later be upgraded to a magistar and then a doktor. The situation was the same in other countries previously part of Yugoslavia. In Serbian, the abbreviation is dipl.inž. Serbian titles of magistar and doktor in abbreviated versions are used without full stop as a punctuation mark at the end.

Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia

In the western Slavic-speaking countries, the engineer's degree is called inżynier, inžinier or inženýr and the abbreviation is inż. in Poland and Ing. in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which may be written before the person's name.
In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the degree of Ing. is given for complete university studies in technical, economic or agricultural fields. In one of these cases it can be equivalent to a Master of Science in Engineering.
In Poland, the degree of inżynier is available after 3.5 or 4 years of studies after a final thesis is completed. A magister inżynier refers to a Master of Science in Engineering, after completing five years of study and a written thesis. Originally there were "inżynier" studies that lasted for four years and afterward one could obtain the "magister" title in two years of studies—the total of six years resulted in two degrees, "magister" and "inżynier". In the early 1960s a new track of studies was developed to speed up education and the "magister inżynier" five-year track was created. Whichever way one obtained the education the "magister inżynier" was the equivalent degree with "inżynier" designating the professional level and "magister" designating the academic level.
After the Bologna process the first level is "inżynier," obtainable after nominally three years of studies with the same professional privileges as before and "masters" after one or two years gives the same academic and professional designation as before. But the ultimate shortening of the period of studies resulted in some professional groups demanding that "magister inżynier" be made a basis for professional rights.

Finland

In Finnish, the engineer's degree is called diplomi-insinööri and abbreviated dipl.ins., DI or M.Sc.. It is possible to obtain after five years of studying or even faster, but the average is around six years. Under the Bologna process, this is split into two parts, the first being one where the students can get the intermediate tekniikan kandidaatti degree.
The degree of insinööri is a bachelor's degree from a Finnish University of Applied Sciences, similar to a German Fachhochschule, but it is not interchangeable with the academic tekniikan kandidaatti.
Due to the Bologna process, a new master's degree called insinööri or "engineer " has been introduced. It carries a requirement of two years of work experience after the degree of insinööri and further studies.

France

In France, there are two main ways to become an engineer:
The Diplôme d'Ingénieur is a postgraduate degree in engineering usually awarded by the French grandes écoles in engineering. It is generally obtained after five to seven years of studies after the French baccalauréat.
Each holder of the Diplôme d'Ingénieur is conferred the title of ingénieur diplômé. This is distinguished from the term ingénieur which is less-regulated. The diplôme d'ingénieur is recognized as Master of Science in Engineering in the United States and in the countries of the European Union.
Most grandes écoles give the opportunity to their students to join a double degree with a University. Furthermore, Diplôme d'Ingénieur graduates can pursue a selective PhD after their engineering studies to later join academia or an industrial R&D department.
Any institution issuing the Diplôme d'Ingénieur must be accredited by the Commission des Titres d'Ingénieur.
France is particular in that it is mainly the grandes écoles in engineering that are accredited and are certified to issue the Diplôme d'Ingénieur, which is differentiated from bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering issued by public universities. Universities in France are comprehensive institutions composed of several faculties covering various fields with a large student body. On the other hand, grandes écoles in engineering are much smaller in size and recruit their students with more selective processes.

Germany and Austria

In German, the traditional engineer's degree is called Diplom-Ingenieur. This supersedes "Ing. ", the old form in Germany. This degree is generally equivalent to a Master's degree, which is not to be confused with the old Magister degree. Most programs that used to lead to a Dipl.-Ing. degree lead to master's degrees today, as the Diplom-Ingenieur as an academic title is phased out because of the Bologna Process. However, some universities continue to hand out so-called equivalence certificates that certify the equivalence of a Dipl.-Ing. with the newly introduced M.Sc. degrees.
The German "Universities of Applied Sciences" award the traditional engineering degree Diplom-Ingenieur . A requirement for the degree is to write a Diplom thesis. This is also being modified by the Bologna Process, as bachelor's and master's degrees from a University of Applied Sciences are equal to degrees from a traditional university.
Universities of Applied Sciences were phased out and, despite some retaining the term "Applied Sciences", have been reorganized into universities with their own faculties and research institutes. These universities are often strongly focused on fields such as computer science, engineering or business schools. Subjects like Law or Human Medicine etc. which requires a Staatsexamen can only be studied at traditional universities. Since 2009, most Universities in Germany offer bachelor's degree programmes and Master programmes that lead to the academic degree Master of Science, Master of Engineering, Master of Business Administration and others.
In Austria there also exists the Ingenieur. This is not an academic degree as it is given to graduates of a so-called HTL which is a high school with a very technical background. Graduates of these schools are allowed to start their studies at universities. The title Ingenieur could only be obtained after proof of at least three years of practice, which requires higher technical knowledge in the field of education.
With a revision of the Austrian engineer's law in May 2017, the requirements of the conferment of the degree were tightened. Next to the existing requirements for graduation from a technical high school and verifiable practical experience of three years, the applicant must take an oral examination with a certified committee to prove advanced skills and knowledge in their field. As a result, the degree was included in the National Qualifications Framework on level 6, the same level as that of the bachelor's degree. The engineering degree does not meet the requirements to enter a master's program in Austria.

Greece

In Greece, the title of "Engineer" is awarded by higher education institutions. There are two types of engineer. The title "Diplomate Engineer" is awarded after completion of a five-year undergraduate engineering degree programme at a polytechnic university. These degrees are 300 ECTS credits, leading to a qualification at ISCED level 7, equivalent to an integrated master's degree.
The title of "Technologist Engineer", is awarded after completion of a four-year undergraduate engineering degree programme at a technological educational institute. These are 240 ECTS credits leading to an award at ISCED level 6, equivalent to a bachelor's degree. TEIs existed from 1983 to 2019; they were reformed between 2013 and 2019 and their departments incorporated into existing higher education institutions.

Italy

In Italy until 2001 there were two degrees: a three-year diploma in ingegneria and a five-year laurea in ingegneria. Since 2001 reform, the bachelor's level is called laurea and master's degree level is called laurea specialistica or laurea magistrale. Accordingly, today after three years of engineering studies, the degree called laurea in ingegneria and the title of dottore in Ingegneria can be obtained. After two additional years of engineering studies, the degree called laurea magistrale in ingegneria and the title of dottore magistrale in Ingegneria can be obtained. After a "state exam" one becomes "Ingegnere". In Italy the state accreditation system, degrees and titles are regulated by state law. See regulations for "laurea" and for "laurea specialistica". Chartered professions are regulated by state law 328/01 .

The Netherlands

In the Netherlands, somebody holding an engineer's degree is an ingenieur. There are two types of engineers with different abbreviations:
Names are traditionally prefixed with the ir. or ing. titles. Use of these titles is regulated and protected by Dutch law. Under the Bologna agreement, the titles are increasingly interchanged with the English-language degrees.
Completion of Dutch engineering qualifications has historically demanded a lot of effort. On average the five-year course takes seven years to finish.

Portugal

In Portugal, Engineer is a professional degree reserved for the effective members of the Portuguese Institution of the Engineers and Portuguese Institution of Technical Engineers. There is not an academic degree of engenheiro, despite the title being used informally to refer to anyone who has a degree in engineering, even a nonmember of the OE or OET.
Until the Bologna Process, having a licenciado degree in engineering was a previous condition to be able to be admitted to the OE. Presently, admission to the OE requires a post-Bologna licenciado degree or a mestre master in engineering. OE members holders of a post-Bologna licenciado degree are now classified as E1 grade engineers, while holders of a pre-Bologna licenciado or a mestre are classified as E2 grade engineers.

Romania and Republic of Moldova

and Republic of Moldova followed the French system. One needs a baccalaureate diploma to be accepted at the university. The engineering degree was called Diploma de inginer and the graduate was called a Inginer diplomat. These five years of study are equivalent to a Bologna Master. The five-year course concludes with a comprehensive set of specialising exams. Marks nine and 10 are considered exceptional. Some universities had called Diploma de Sub-inginer which was a three-year course equivalent with a college degree. Following the Bologna process, the graduates obtain the Inginer licentiat degree, after following a four-year program. In this case the Inginer Master degree is obtained after an additional one- or two-year graduate program.

Spain

The situation in Spain is very similar to France but without the grandes écoles and Germany-UK in relation to the Technical Engineering Degrees. Long cycle Engineer's degrees traditionally used to be six-year programs but the tendency since the mid-1990s has been to reduce them to five years. The last step to get the degree is the Proyecto de Fin de Carrera, which involves a combination of application development and some research work. Students submit a dissertation that they have to defend. The Spanish official name for the degree is Ingeniero or other degree called Ingeniero Técnico, which is a three to four years degree and is equivalent to a Bachelor of Engineering, the Technical Engineer in Spain has full competencies and legal authority in their field; however, certain engineering professions require by law a master's degree in their respective field, a degree called "master habilitante" or "habilitating master's degree". A distinctive characteristic of Spanish engineering degrees is that the average duration of studies up to graduation is about 40 percent above the nominal duration and that the drop-out rate is considerable due to stricter examination standards.

Sweden

There are two different engineering degrees that belong to the so called professional degrees: civilingenjör, which requires five years of study and högskoleingenjör, which amounts to three years. Both programmes admit students directly from secondary education.

United Kingdom

The highest engineer qualification in the UK and Ireland is the Chartered Engineer which is a minimum of eight years but usually 12 years of education, training and professional peer reviewed practice process. Chartered Engineer is a terminal qualification. The academic qualification, which is minimum for gaining chartership in engineering, is the Master of Engineering or BEng plus MSc or MA in addition to four to six years peer-reviewed professional practice including a project report / thesis. In England, Northern Ireland and Wales this is a four-year course or a 'sandwich' five-year course. In Scotland, it is a five-year course. The Bachelor of Engineering is usually a three-year course or can also include a year in industry. Many universities offer the BEng and may then allow a transfer to the MEng.
The City and Guilds of London Institute have established a recognised route to higher engineering qualifications with the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and The Institution of Civil Engineers. CGLI has align the Graduate Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma with the registration requirements for Incorporated Engineer and Chartered Engineer status. The Graduate Diploma is set at the same level as the final year of a British BEng and its Postgraduate Diploma is set at the same level as the final year of a British MEng.
UK Professional institutions have delegated authority from the engineering council to approve university degrees and also award the Chartered Engineer qualification in a specific discipline. For example, IMechE awards C.Eng, MIMechE, ICE awards CEng, MICE and IET awards CEng, MIET.
Engineers who have been awarded a BEng or BEng and have appropriate training and experience in the workplace are able to apply to become an Incorporated Engineer, if the qualification has been accepted for this classification, by the engineering council. If an engineer has studied beyond the BEng for an MSc or has an MEng, they may apply to become a Chartered Engineer, once they have completed the required amount of postgraduate work-based competency training and experience. Competency and training requirements are met over a period of four to eight years in practice for a total of eight to 12 years education, training and professional responsibility. Formal structured postgraduate training schemes such as the monitored professional development programme administered by IMechE enables the engineer in training to satisfy the requirements for Chartered Engineer faster.
Uniquely the Institution of Structural Engineers requires candidates for chartered status to undertake both a professional review interview and a seven-hour written examination. The examination tests the candidates' ability to demonstrate:-
Chartered Engineer and Incorporated Engineer titles awarded by the Engineering Council UK, are similar but not equivalent to North American Professional Engineer and Professional Technologist designations, but with often a far greater geographical recognition. The UK and North American system of regulating engineering professional qualifications is very different and not equivalent. In the US and Canada engineering is a regulated profession in terms of practice and enforced by law and licensing. It is more than the regulation of engineering titles—like the UK. This means that many UK chartered Engineers who are grandfathered to the title or are non degree holders will not be recognized formally as professional engineers in Canada and US. There is strict interpretation of qualifications and education because there are legal implications. There is no back door entry or experiential exemption from the formal academic requirements. This is simply because of the legal legislation on practice. This licensed based engineering governance legal framework does not exist in the UK.
MIET-Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology is recognised as regulated engineering profession by virtue of the Statutory Instruments n.2007/2781-The European Communities Regulation 2007-Directive European Union 2005/36/EC.
This meaning retains the 19th century idea that "real" engineers were military personnel, while "other" engineers were civilians.

Europe (according to the Bologna Process)

Following the introduction of the Bologna process, universities divide higher-education studies in three cycles, corresponding to a three to four-year bachelor's degree, a one to two-year master's degree and a doctoral degree. Accordingly, engineering studies are now divided in two parts: first, the bachelor's degree and the second optional part, after which either the traditional engineer's degree or a master's degree is awarded. These can often, however, still be combined into a single 'integrated' degree programme in many countries, normally lasting five or six years. But in the UK when one considers the whole formation of a fully qualified Chartered Engineer or Incorporated Engineer it is a minimum of eight years. Countries have varied in the implementation of the Bologna process, meaning the combination of first and second cycles, even when taken as a single degree, can last from four to six years, although many countries have set five years as the minimum.
Most traditional universities continue to have a primary academic degree program, for example, a five-year Civilingenjör in Sweden, that is distinct from the 3+2 scheme that awards the bachelor's and master's degrees but a student who has done both at a Swedish technical university will in most cases also fulfill the requirements for the civilingenjör degree.
In France, an important part of engineering is taught in écoles d’ingénieurs, which are part of the French grandes écoles system. Since the Bologna Process, the Diplôme d’ingénieur is officially considered to be at the level of a master's degree.
Notably, Europe has the international professional engineering qualification and title of European Engineer which is obtained through peer review after seven years of education, training and professional experience.

Russia

As of 2012 in Russia, following degrees correspond to the "engineer's degree" in the sense of this article:
Anything but "bachelor" is considered "second-level" higher education and gives access to postgraduate education for "candidate of sciences" degree, "bachelor" is considered "first-level" higher education degree and gives access to study for master's degree.
Post-graduate scientific degrees in engineering areas include кандидат технических наук - "candidate of technical sciences" and доктор технических наук - "doctor of technical sciences". Sometimes in English translations "...of technical sciences" is exchanged for "...of engineering".

Turkey

In Turkey, typical length of study for bachelor's degree at any engineering program is four years. Owner of a valid degree which is given by an engineering faculty at Turkish universities, can be called Mühendis, meaning "Engineers". The "Mühendis" title is limited by law to people with a valid engineering degree and the use of the title by others is illegal. A person may earn a master's degree in the same field as the bachelor's and be called as "Yüksek Mühendis". Most Turkish engineering programs are accredited to European system by Bologna process.

Asia

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, the engineering degree is referred to as BSc Engineering at the undergraduate level. Likewise, a master's degree is referred to as Master of Engineering and Master of Science in Engineering. At the undergraduate level, the course takes four years, only except being in the case of Urban and Regional Planning discipline, where it usually takes five years. In postgraduate education, pursuing a master's degree in any engineering discipline usually takes one to one and a half years. Graduated engineers who are members of either Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh or Institution of Textile Engineers and Technologists are legally and formally allowed to use the title "Engr." before their names.

India

The engineering courses in India are regulated and set up under the aegis of the University Grants Commission of India, All India Council for Technical Education and National Board of Accreditation.
In India, engineering qualifications include the following:
In Pakistan, engineering qualifications include the following:
Pakistan Engineering Council is the responsible government body for accreditation of undergraduate engineering degrees, registration of engineers and regulation of engineering profession. PEC is a full signatory of Washington Accord and International Professional Engineer Agreement.

Vietnam

In Vietnam, the engineer's degree is called Bằng kỹ sư, the first degree after five years of study. The Ministry of Education of Vietnam has also issued separate regulations for the naming of degrees not in accordance with international regulation. The Engineer's degree is named "The Degree of Engineer" in the degree. Since 30/12/2019, The Degree of Engineer, Doctor and architecture has been classified at 7th rank, it means having the same rank with a master's degree.