International Engineering Alliance meets in Wellington

International Engineering Alliance (IEA) meets in Wellington

The annual International Engineering Alliance (IEA) meetings begin today in Wellington with over 130 engineers from 26 countries arriving to take part in the four day event. The meetings hold strong importance for the engineering profession and will be the second time in the Alliance’s history that New Zealand will host, the first being in 2003.

IEA is an umbrella organisation for six multilateral agreements which establish and enforce internationally-benchmarked standards for engineering education, and what's termed 'entry level' competence to practise engineering, amongst their members. The Alliance currently includes lead engineering organisations from 23 nations (including five G8 and 11 G20 nations) and is expanding steadily, with China being one of the latest to apply for membership.

New Zealand has unconditional membership of all six agreements through IPENZ - having recently passed quality assurance reviews in respect of several of these agreements.

IPENZ Chief Executive Dr Andrew Cleland says the organisation’s involvement with the Alliance means New Zealand is constantly meeting international standards.

“IPENZ knows this involvement is even more important following the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes and the subsequent rebuild now underway in Christchurch.

“The public is seeking assurance that our engineers are matching it with the best in the world, and the IEA is the best way to provide that assurance.”

The event will also commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first agreement, the Washington Accord, with a celebratory dinner at Te Papa.

The Accord is responsible for benchmarking professional engineering degree programmes in each of the signatory countries. It provides that graduates in any of the signatory countries be recognised by the other countries as having met academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering.

Nations attending (both members and observers): USA, South Korea, Russia, Peru, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Canada, China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Africa, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Japan, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, New Zealand.

ENDS

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