
The HKIE has always kept in pace with the development of international practice and standards. To be in line with the international trends in the assessment of engineers seeking professional standards, the Council approved the HKIE Competence Standard for Professional Engineers (Corporate Members) and the launch of the Competence-based Professional Assessment and the Scheme “A” Training in competence-based format in April 2019.
The HKIE Competence Standard for Professional Engineers (Corporate Members)
The following competences (in four broad areas, namely Applying Engineering Knowledge, Developing Technical Solutions, Managing Engineering Work and Upkeeping Professional Acumen) set the standard expected for engineers seeking professional recognition as Corporate Members by undertaking a competence-based assessment administered by the HKIE. In addition to the following twelve elements of the competence standard, written communication skills are required.
- Comprehend and apply knowledge of accepted principles underpinning widely applied good practice for professional engineering;
- Comprehend and apply knowledge of accepted principles underpinning good practice for professional engineering that is specific to Hong Kong;
- Define, investigate and analyse complex engineering problems in accordance with good practice for professional engineering;
- Design or develop solutions to complex engineering problems in accordance with good practice for professional engineering;
- Be responsible for making decisions on part or all of one or more complex engineering activities;
- Manage part or all of one or more complex engineering activities in accordance with good engineering management practice;
- Identify, assess and manage engineering risk;
- Conduct engineering activities to an ethical standard prescribed by the HKIE;
- Recognise the reasonably foreseeable social, cultural, health, safety, sustainability and environmental effects of professional engineering activities generally;
- Communicate clearly with other engineers and others that he or she is likely to deal with in the course of his or her professional engineering activities;
- Maintain the currency of his or her professional engineering knowledge and skills;
- Exercise sound professional engineering judgement.
Competence-based Professional Assessment for Corporate Membership
The competence-based assessments conducted by the HKIE require applicants to provide sufficient outcome evidence to demonstrate that they are able to consistently apply knowledge, understanding and skills to the standard expected of a professional engineer at Corporate Member level.
According to the implementation timeline, the Competence-based Professional Assessment will be applicable to applications for Corporate membership submitted on or after 1 April 2019 and that candidates who submit the applications for resit of Professional Assessment for Corporate membership between 1 April 2019 and 31 December 2020 can choose either the current assessment system and the competence-based assessment system. Once the candidate chose the Competence-based Professional Assessment, the candidate is not allowed to revert back to the current assessment system.
The relevant documents for the competence-based system are available on the HKIE website.
https://hkie.org.hk/en/membership/download_mem2
Briefing on Implementation of the Competence-based Professional Assessment
In order for potential applicants of the HKIE Corporate Membership to know more about the new approach of assessment, briefing sessions are provided. Please click here for the details and online registration.
Scheme “A” Training in Competence-based format
To align with the HKIE competence standard, the Training-by-Objectives of all Disciplines using competence-based format have been mapped out. All Training Objectives have been rewritten to Training Outcomes, and are included in the Consolidated Model Training Guides.
Scheme “A” Training in Competence-based format will be applicable to all trainees with training start date on or after 1 April 2019. The training documentation in competence format is now available on the HKIE website.
https://hkie.org.hk/en/membership/download_training/