martin w

Hi there,

I have been having trouble finding a definitive or clear answer on how exactly qualifications are converted from UK to Canadian.

To be more specific, I am a Marine Engineer by trade and from what I can tell I need to obtain either a P.Eng (if I want to work shore side) or a Canadian Motor Transport Certificate (to work on ships).

If you are already registered with the UK Engineering Council does this cross over?

The P.Eng website is very sketchy on International recognition and the only other info I have found is the Engineers Canada website (http://www.engineerscanada.ca/e/pr_education_2_inst.cfm) which states they want $175 and take up to 6 weeks to reply.

I am wondering if anyone else has had to do this and how it went?

Atlantic Xpat

Isn't engineering (p.Eng etc) a provincially regulated thing rather than a federally regulated thing? If so, you'll need the BC Association of Professional wheeltappers and spigot winders. Details here: http://www.apeg.bc.ca/

Marine qualification equivalency will be a Transport Canada issue. I have a friend who holds a Chief Officers ticket and is an instructor at the local Marine Institute. I can ask him if you like.

iaink

If you are aiming for vancouver then you need to check the requirements of the BC body (APEGBC)

In general terms if you are currently a UK CEng its a question of paperwork and perhaps some time under probation, plus challenging the local exams regarding ethics and legal responsibilities etc here.

This link is probably a good starting point:
http://www.apeg.bc.ca/iteg/index.htm

Ive had no problems in terms of my UK degree being recognised, but vocational qualifications (HND, C&G etc) are more of a headache.

For offshore its almost certainly some sort of federal ministry approval thats needed (Transport Canada?)

I hear a lot about the necessity of PEng, (mainly from the engineering bodies) but I've been here 13 years now without PEng, and its not been a problem so far. It would probably make a few more jobs open if I had it, but so far apathy has ruled the day If I was a structural engineer, or was signing off on designs and plans it would be different. Its very field dependent i think.

smivers

In Alberta (for Structural engineering at least, which is my area), you can register as a Foreign Licensee while you build up the experience required for full membership - there's probably an equivalent for your area.

ExKiwilass

Both my inlaws are marine engineers working for BC Ferries (well, one has retired now). I can ask them if you like.

I know they get a lot of foreign marine engineers so it's clearly doable. It's just the usual thing with the union i.e. being a newbie you're last pick for any jobs.

When you say marine engineer, what does that mean exactly?

ExKiwilass

I know there's a rule about sea time. I.e. you can't progress until you have a certain no. of hours at sea. That's only if you want to work on ships, though.

ExKiwilass

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/marinesafety...n-faq-1052.htm

ExKiwilass

http://www.bcit.ca/study/programs/2730000000

Partially discharged

The best part of the PEO magazine (Ontario engineers) are the 'blue' pages in the middle that list the court proceedings of engineers who got into trouble with the engineering society...surprisingly the PEO only list the proceedings of cases in which they prevailed.

martin w

Wow, thanks for all the prompt replies everyone!

I see that I may have been a bit ambiguous in what kind of field I'm in: I have worked as a Marine Engineer in the Royal Navy for the last 12 years serving on various ships as well as ashore support orgs. Initially I was at technician level but have been an Officer for the last 5 years, equivalent of a 1st Eng Off in the civvie world. At the moment I have a whole host of courses open to me in my resettlement time but no idea where to focus my efforts. Would help if I hadn't been away the last 6 months!

Kiwilass:Working for something like BC ferries would be ideal as it's the same job I've been doing all my career. Would be interested to know if I have to have Maritime & Coastguard Agency (the UK equivalent) quals to get a Motor Transport Cert or if I can get it through BC ferries.

Am also thinking about working in Vancouver Shipyard (if they have any vacancies) in some sort of shore support capacity (managing refits, ad-hoc work on visiting ships etc) but as far as I can read I can't call myself an 'Engineer' in Canada unless I have a P.Eng?

Atlantic Xpat & Iaink; Thanks for the link to APEG. Not ideal that they don't recognise my IEng, IMarEng or IMarEST registrations which is their equivalent! Of course, they'd miss out on about $2,000 for registration if they did!

Not too sure I like the idea of being taken to court: "The best part of the PEO magazine (Ontario engineers) are the 'blue' pages in the middle that list the court proceedings of engineers who got into trouble with the engineering society...surprisingly the PEO only list the proceedings of cases in which they prevailed." I did notice that I'd need Professional Indemnity if I was registered...worrying!

Iaink: Would be interested to know what kind of jobs were open to you without a P.Eng and what weren't if you're happy with that? At the moment I'm not really sure what I could and couldn't do???

Many thanks for all you guys' help so far

ExKiwilass

I don't think you have to have a P.Eng for marine. I don't quote me on that, but as far as I know my BIL doesn't have that and he is a First engineer with the FErries. If you check out my links in the posts above it went into more detail about what you need to work on Canadian vessels/how to go about getting your quals assessed etc. It doesn't seem to have much to do with the professional engineering bodies, rather Transport Canada as the others suggested.

FYI, BC Ferries? Kinda a dysfunctional organisation to work for. However, I believe they were short of Firsts at one point, I don't know if that's still true, but that would probably help you get in. I'll check with the BIL.

HTH

iaink

My background / degree is in Material Science and Engineering, after a few years post grad research Ive worked here as a "Materials engineer", "Senior materials engineer", "Quality Engineer" "Product Engineer" (even I dont know what that means!) etc. As I dont have to prepare blueprints etc or do the kind of legal sign off that civil or structural engineers have to its enough that somewhere up the command structure is a PEng who nominally supervises, but even that's a grey area it seems. My immediate boss was engineering manager in charge of 200 technical staff for a multinational here and he has never had or expressed an interest in PEng membership.

My take is that there are some engineering functions that legally require a PEng sign off, such as machine safety inspection/ approval, structural design etc, but in many other roles its nothing more than a social club.

Legally you cant set up a business as an "Engineer" and offer engineering / consulting services to the public without the license, but there are many people out there employed as Engineers that have not jumped through the licensing hoops, but are perhaps supervised at some level (perhaps indirectly) by a licensed PEng.

The whole "Cant be calling yourself an Engineer with out PEng license" is not unsurprisingly driven my the PEng bodies, based on the narrow interpretation of either setting yourself up as a consultant, or the narrow range of functions where legally its a requirement. I suspect PEng is by now a necessity for engineering management functions, and no doubt is a requirement in some fields like civil or structural or consultancy positions, but thats not what Ive been doing, I work in manufacturing support.

Hope that helps... the interpretation perhaps varies from province to province too. Id say that for the roles you are looking at its would be some sort of Transport Canada ticket/ approval that would apply to you, for the on board functions anyway.

zednought

I don't know whether you would need a PEng qualification to perform the roles you would wish to undertake. However, I can confirm that no UK engineering professional qualifications "cross-over" to a PEng. Basically, you need to start the entire process again. Your engineering degree (assuming you have one) might be acceptable and some of your experience might be take in lieu of PEng experience. But nothing is guaranteed.

Basically, PEng is more of a respected qualification that say, for example, CEng (which is meaningless except to other Chartered Engineers).

ExKiwilass

I worked at a large engineering firm last year and there was at least one, possibly more, british expat engineers who worked as engineers without the P.Eng. They were doing civil, electrical, etc. It seems like as long as there's a Peng floating around to sign it off, the non-Pengs are still considered ok to do the actual work etc.

iaink

However the basic academic and experience criteria are extremely similar, save for the local legal and ethical exams, so if you have CEng its a relatively straightforward excercise to qualify for PEng, especially as many of the provincial bodies are now making steps to recognise qualified foreign newcommers with probationary memberships and the like.

Its a lot easier now to convert CEng to PEng than it was say ten years ago.