The Engineering Council has granted a two-year licence commencing June 2021 to the PWI to undertake accreditation and approval of University and College courses that provide exemplifying academic qualifications for professional registration. This licence provides for full participation in the activities of the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM), the body that is licenced to accredit civil engineering qualifications, which consists of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE), and the Permanent Way Institution (PWI).

Dr. Brian Counter said “This puts the PWI up there with the great guns! We want to be the Institution of choice for railway infrastructure engineers in the UK and JBM accredited courses are sought after by school leavers wanting to obtain high level professional qualifications.”

BACKGROUND

The PWI is delighted to have made another step towards promoting professional registration in the UK and worldwide rail industry by establishing a formal link with colleges and universities through the JBM. The PWI currently has strong links with many colleges and universities who currently have rail-specific curricula and will promote others to develop rail studies, in addition to highway studies, at locations where there is enhanced demand from rail employers.

The JBM currently approves and accredits higher level and degree apprenticeships for working trainee engineers, as well as academic courses, and the PWI will actively support and develop these in the rail industry.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE PWI?

• Our logo will appear on 86 university and college websites and their course documentation, alongside JBM’s.

• The PWI President will sign the certificates posted at educational locations alongside the Presidents of the other JBM Member Institutions.

• We will send our reps to visit selected “railway” universities and colleges and support the civil engineering education in the UK.

• We will vote and approve all relevant bachelor and master’s degree courses as part of the JBM Board.

• PWI Board approval of PWI JBM representatives, Board Members Phil Ransom and Dr. Amer Ali, Visiting staff and Sub Committee members, Dr. Mohammed Wehbi, Dr. Matthew Frost, Prof. Martin Crapper and Neil Raw.

• Presentations to universities and colleges in early 2022.

THE DETAILS

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE), the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), the Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE) and the Permanent Way Institution (PWI) together represent some 100,000 of the world’s leading professional engineers.

The JBM assesses and makes recommendations on the accreditation and approval of relevant educational programmes that it accepts as meeting the requirement to register as a professional engineer with the Engineering Council (EngC) – the body responsible for regulating the engineering profession within the UK.

JBM MISSION STATEMENT

The JBM Board will make recommendations on accreditation/non-accreditation of educational programmes, for consideration by the JBM member institutions, to allow them to publish, and keep up-to-date, a list of qualifications which they accept as providing the educational base for different grades of membership and the Engineering Council (EngC) Register: CEng, IEng and EngTech.

ROLE OF JBM

The JBM seeks to maintain and strengthen links with educational establishments in the United Kingdom on all matters concerned with first degree programmes and periods of Further Learning in those engineering disciplines of relevance to the JBM member institutions.

If requested, the JBM will also consider the accreditation of programmes overseas provided that no costs are incurred by the sponsoring institutions. Applications for accreditation through individual educational establishments are referred to the Board.

The JBM is appointed by, and answerable to, the Councils/Executive Boards of the sponsoring institutions and reports through the relevant membership/education committees of ICE, IStructE, CIHT, IHE and PWI.

The Board consists of a Chair nominated by the Presidents of the participating institutions, drawn from the academic, private and public practice sectors, representing a wide range of engineering in the construction industry.

All members involved in accreditation activities are experienced engineers, capable of making balanced judgements on the ability of an educational establishment to create a high standard of graduate output.

ICE PRESS RELEASE:

The institution for rail infrastructure engineers becomes the fifth member of JBM, which sets the standards for civil engineering education in the UK.

The Permanent Way Institution will bring its rail infrastructure expertise to the board. Image credit: Shutterstock
The Permanent Way Institution will bring its rail infrastructure expertise to the JBM. Image credit: Shutterstock

ICE head of qualifications, John Laverty, said: “ICE works in partnership with other institutions through JBM to provide a joined-up approach to engineering education in the built environment.

“The addition of PWI, with its specific interest in railway infrastructure, reinforces JBM’s role in accrediting degrees and approving vocational qualifications for the civil, structural, transportation and associated engineering disciplines.”
By joining the JBM, Laverty said he looked forward to PWI joining the JBM on its “mission” to meet the net zero challenge.

“The extraordinary challenge of the climate emergency is becoming a central cultural feature in the education of civil engineering students. Both ICE and JBM want to bring about that fundamental shift in perspective, to help engineers meet the major challenges facing society.

“We look forward to colleagues from PWI joining the JBM in that mission,” he said.