NationStates Jolt Archive

International Professional Engineers’ Association

In order to facilitate trade and industry, all nations should establish and support an institution that will serve as a benchmark for quality engineering.

Pugliasium thinks that this act is in everyone's interests and would like to here what others have to say about it.

It will be put into the trade catagory, unless anyone has any suggestions.

International Professional Engineers’ Association (IPEA) Act

This resolution will acknowledge the need for an international body to access the quality of professional engineers, for the safety and well being of the public, and for the profitability of industry.

The IPEA will be a non-profit division of the NSUN and be tasked with the role of licensing professional engineers (P.Eng.), and defining what an engineer is.

An engineer shall hereby be known as a person who has completed an IPEA approved course in an institution of higher learning (i.e., a university), thus receiving an undergraduate, or graduate degree in engineering (i.e., BaEng).

A P.Eng shall be the highest level of engineer. A P.Eng shall be an engineer who has an undergraduate of engineering, at the least, has had four years of recognized workplace experience, at the least, and has completed a licensing exam with a passing grade, at the least.

An engineer can gain valid workplace experience as a technician, technical supervisor, or general labourer in a field respective of their post secondary training. I.e., mining or mineral engineers can gain the P.Eng license by working as miners, or mining machine operators.

P.Engs will be invested with the power to determine if any manmade object, either building, or device, is safe. No products or buildings can be built in a NSUN nation without the seal of approval from a P.Eng. If a P.Eng issues the Profesional Engineering Seal of Approval to a product that is unsafe then his license shall be suspended or revoked, depending on the ruling made by the IPEA.

The IPEA will also recognize and determine which fields of study shall constitute as fields of engineering. The fields of engineering numerous and constantly changing, therefore, they will not be listed here.

Finally, all P.Engs will be given nickel ring to remind them of their responsibility to the safety of the public.

Fine idea, but it's not a UN resolution. At most, it creates "a committee" which does nothing but hand out nickel rings. It certainly doesn't "free" trade - if anything, it restricts it.

Sorry, no can do as written.

Well there has to be a way to ensure that the engineering profession only has qualified engineers. People's lives cannot be trusted by anyone who calls themselves an engineer. Besdies, don't you think that trade will imrpove becuase business will know if they people they are hiring are quality engineers or not?

Do there needs to be a way to create quality control in this line of work and a committee is the only logical way.

The scope of this is national, not international. Let each nation decide it's own standards.

While establishing standards and practices is a fine idea for an international organisation such as the UN, our current game mechanics do not provide for a method of coding such a mild change into the game. We've explored creating a Standards and Practices category, but have frankly been unable to come up with anything that would be generic enough for this sort of thing and still have a game effect that made sense.

Sorry, it really is a good idea. Would it affect Trade on even a Mild level? Not a chance. Ditto for any other category. It just doesn't work in NationStates.

Bahgum is always amused by the concept of trade bodies, just because you have passed an exam and paid a fee to an institution one has no right to suddenly become 'professional' or to pretend you are the only people to do business with because you belong to a group.
Taking engineering as an example, until you've built something and it has stayed up, you are nothing more than a qualified theoretician. An engineer can and should prove his or hers worth by pointing to their previous projects, not a a nice headquarters and enrollment fee receipt.

Is this an attempt at creating an international guild? Snazzy! Too bad the moderator says that it can't be implemented under the current rules. Sounds interesting though.

I'm rather disappointed that this has nothing to do with dyslexic flat pack furniture

If engineering is risky business in Bahgum, then it should be noted that it is not so Pugliasium. Incase you failed to read the resolution carefully on the field experience (such as a technician) is required to become a P. Eng. This is simply not some kind of guild, giving out nickel rings and seal of approval stamps to any hack with a calculator and protractor.

This instution is for maintaining a standard for engineers. Kind of like drving a vehichle. Just becuase you own an automobile doesn't mean you can drive one. What happens is that you complete a written test and then earn a learner's permitt and then one completes a driver's test after experience has been gained. This system of establishing standards in the engineering field is no different from drivers licenses.

Furthermore, these licensing instituion already exist, ever heard of POE? But every different country and province has one, it would be better to have one global institution. To use a real life example (if I may), in China there is no word for engineer, so even machinists, and professional engineers can be classified as engineers. That is why it looks like China graduates so many engineers, when really the number is still large but more reasonable.

There are countless definition of occupations in many countries (notories in France are more like lawyers), but engineering concerns the safety of people, so there has to be a standard.

I see that there might be a problem with making this fit in NS, but if quality control for air and water can be imposed then so can it for professions.

Pugliasium will think about how to make this fit.

No disrespect intended, but I was thinking of medieval guilds who were very protective of their knowledge and made sure that only someone with the right experience and knowledge would be part of the guild. It took several years to prove oneself.

I'm not sure what guilds you may have been referring to?