ROUTE TO PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER, PEng. @ Ir

Figure 1: The Flowchart on how to become a professional engineer.

The very first thing to apply for professional engineer must be register as a Graduate Engineer with BEM. Notice that, only a citizen or a permanent resident (PR) of Malaysia (not less than 6 months) can qualify for registration as a Professional Engineer. Basically, they are two type of registration of an applicant, first is the Graduate Engineer (GE) for accredited engineering degree and the second one is the Temporary Engineer for foreign registration an unaccredited engineering degree. It is easier for GE’s applicant because the GE can directly go to the next qualification without any problem. However, for the temporary engineer’s applicant, the engineer must pursue recognized coursework master program in engineering since their engineering degree is unaccredited because of three years program for example or otherwise they can also sitting for an exam part II and part III graduate examination which is conduct by IEM/ BEM to get accredited and pursue their professional engineer application.

            Next, all candidates must have achieved the training requirements by BEM. There are at least 3 years of working experience, training record or Log Book, course attendance and professional development program. Candidates must pass all these three condition before going to the next level which is assessment part. Normally, the minimum requirements for practical training are 3 years (normally 4-6 years) and must be supervised by a professional engineer with the same organization and same discipline or else they may select their mentor by IEM if the organization does not have professional engineer.  The experience should be in design and site besides application of engineering knowledge. The candidates are also required to maintain Log Book (to be submitted to Mentor regularly and to IEM annually for endorsement). 

                                                   Figure: training record or Log Book requirement

Basically, Professional activities are divided into three parts. First is practicing engineers which are conduct consulting service, contracting services, engineering management and authorities. Second is teacher or lecturer in engineering. For these applicants, they must have minimum 1 year teaching in the final years of degree course and 1 year equivalent practical engineering experience and the most important thing they must also have 3 years of working experiences in approved post graduate course or research for higher degree or research whilst being a teacher. The last one is applicants are the researcher. For researcher, at the time of application they must engage in engineering research with minimum or 2 years engineering research in responsible position. For these applicants they must also have 3 to 4 years’ experience either for practical experience or research experience to pursue their professional application.

Before the applicant sit for the assessment or interview, the candidates must attend mandatory training (60 hours) and undergo professional development training, PDP(30 units or 30 hours) which was introduce by BEM on 1^st January 2005. The explanation of mandatory training and PDP as mention below:

i.        Mandatory Training                                                                         

                                                            Code of ethics - 12 hours

                                                            Health and safety - 12 hours

                                                             Engineering management- 12 hours

                                                            Courses related graduates’ branch - 24 hours
         

Total mandatory training is 60 hours. This courses may conducted by BEM or any institution that get approval from BEM.

ii.      Professional Development Training, PDP

·         Technical talks

·         Seminar

·         Society/ association meeting

·         Community services

PDP must be completion not less than 30 units where 1 unit is equal to 1 hour.

There are two ways of assessment to become a professional engineer in Malaysia:

i.        Through BEM

After completing the mandatory courses and PDP, candidates can sit for their Professional Assessment Examination, PAE. This assessment required training report and documents (drawings, detailed design calculation, specifications). The oral interview will conducted by not less than two examiners appointed by the board. In addition, there are also has essay writing session. There are two sections, section A will ask about basic engineering knowledge and experiences. While section B will ask about code of ethics and conduct.

ii.      Through IEM

After completing the mandatory courses and PDP, candidates can sit for their Professional Interview, PI. The Professional Interview, PI will conducted by not less than two examiners appointed by the board. The interview question will ask based on training and experience report and documents (drawings, detailed design calculation, specifications). The main objective for PI is to test the candidate’s understanding of the application of engineering principles and the ability to communicate well. Candidates must be at least 24 years old during the interview session.

Once a candidate has passed their PAE or PI they can directly register corporate member at IEM and then get the professional engineer certificate by registering at the BEM. However, since January 2008, BEM was introduced new condition in order to ensure that the professional engineer produced are really good in all field, they must undergo competency examination. This session, candidates will be asking about the practice of engineering. The question will be set by a team of practicing engineers. In addition, they might be ask also about engineers act and any relevant by law question base on candidates branch. For example, electricity supply act, building by-law, OSHA and etc. Finally, after get the professional engineer title, candidates have to achieve 50 hours continuing professional Development (CPD) per annum and renew the license with Board of Engineer Malaysia (BEM), so that they can pursue the PEng title.

 In the conclusion, professional engineer is very good certification and highly recommended to all engineers in Malaysia in order to be more competence, expertise and to act more professional in engineering field rather than get the PEng. or Ir. title only. In my opinion, engineers should have this certificate in order to ensure and test the limit of our knowledge and the ability to work in engineering field. Besides that, bare in mind to all fresh engineering graduates please register with the BEM as soon as possible after your graduation. This is because, 3 years of working experience only starts counting after you have registered with the BEM and it is supposed to be illegal for you to work in the capacity of an engineer without a registration with the BEM.