Information about Engineer's Degree

For other degrees, see Academic degree

An engineer's degree is a graduate academic degree intermediate in rank between a master's degree and a doctoral degree in the United States. In Europe, it can be an approximately five-year degree roughly equivalent to a master's degree.

The Engineer's degree in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the highest award for non-postgraduate studies in engineering is the Master of Engineering (MEng). In England, this is a four-year course or a 'sandwich' five-year course (with one year spent working in industry). In Scotland, it is a five year course. The Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) is usually a three year course (four in Scotland), or can also include a year in industry. Many universities offer the BEng, and may then allow a transfer onto the MEng.

The Engineering Council Graduate Diploma is set at the same level as the final year of a British BEng and its Postgraduate Diploma is set at the same level as the final year of a British MEng.

Graduateship (GCGI) in engineering

The Graduateship in engineering,awarded by the C&G of London Institute(Institution recognised by Royal Charter n.117 year 1900),is mapped to a British Honours degree.

Engineers who have been awarded a BEng and have appropriate training and experience in the work place are able to apply to become an Incorporated Engineer (IEng). If an engineer has studied beyond the BEng in some way or has an MEng, they may apply to become a Chartered Engineer (CEng), once they have completed the required amount of work-based training and experience.

Chartered Engineer and Incorporated Engineer titles awarded by the Engineering Council UK,are equivalent to North American Professional Engineer designations, but with often a far greater geographical recognition.

The Engineer's degree in the United States

In the United States, the bachelor's degree is the standard undergraduate degree awarded to engineering students and is generally the only degree required for licensure (that is, it is the first professional degree in the field). For graduate students, the master's degree is by far the most common route, which may be followed by the doctorate. The Degree of Engineer or Engineer's Degree is the least commonly obtained advanced degree in engineering. It is usually preceded by a master's degree and is not a prerequisite to a doctoral degree. It serves as a terminal degree for practicing engineers. The availability of degrees and the specific requirements differ considerably between institutions and between specialties within an institution. Officially, both undergraduate programs and graduate programs at the master's-level may receive ABET-accreditation, but ABET will only accredit a bachelor's or a master's degree at a given institution (not both). In practice, although undergraduate accreditation is common, master's-level accreditation is rare unless an undergraduate program is not available (for example, the Naval Postgraduate School).

In many other fields, the master's degree would naturally be followed by a traditional research doctorate (Ph.D.). But in this case, the engineer's degree provides an alternative that has been tailored for professionals rather than academicians. Some schools, Stanford and Caltech for example, require a thesis. But, the requirements are generally less than those of Ph.D. candidates and more comparable to those of most Master of Science students. Others, like Santa Clara University, do not have a specific research requirement. For this reason, many consider an engineer's degree to be on a level between a master's degree and a doctorate. Nonetheless, it is in fact a terminal degree, much like the Ed.S. degree in education.

In the past, it was not uncommon for a would-be engineer to earn an engineer's degree as their first and only college degree. But since World War II this has fallen out of favor, and it becomes continually more difficult to find a school that offers this option.

Note: A degree with some form of the word "engineer(ing)" in the title is not necessarily an engineer's degree in this sense. Particularly, a "Master of Engineering" (M.Eng.) or "Engineering Doctorate" (Eng. D) degree is not an Engineer's degree, nor is any other bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree. Rather, the engineer's degree is in a category of its own. For example, a student with a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering might next earn the degree Electrical Engineer. The person would then have a B.S. in E.E., a M.S. in E.E., and an E.E. degree. The former two are degrees in engineering, and only the latter degree is actually an Engineer's degree.

Common abbreviations of engineering disciplines (U.S. and Canada)

An abbreviation of the discipline is often used to represent an engineer's degree where one might typically use M.S. or Ph.D. Several are potentially ambiguous, especially P.E.

• Agricultural Engineer - Ag. E. or A.E.
• Biomedical Engineer - B.M.E.
• Chemical Engineer - Ch. E. or Chem. E.
• Petroleum Engineer - P.E.
• Building Engineer - B.E.
• Ceramic Engineer - Cer. E.
• Civil Engineer - C.E.
• Clinical Engineer - C.E.
• Computer Engineer - Cp. E.
• Electrical Engineer - E.E.
• Industrial Engineer - I.E.
• Structural Engineer - S.E
• Software Engineer - S.E. or S.W.E.
• Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics - E.A.A.
• Engineer in Computer Science - E.C.S.
• Engineer in Mechanics - E.M.
• Environmental Engineer - Env. E.
• General Engineer - G.E.
• Geological Engineer - G.E.
• Materials Engineer - Mat. E.
• Mechanical Engineer - Mech. E. or M.E.
• Mechatronic Engineer - M.T.E.
• Metallurgical Engineer - Met. E.
• Mining Engineer - Min. E
• Naval Engineer - Nav. E.
• Nuclear Engineer - Nucl. E.
• Ocean Engineer - Ocean. E.
• Systems Engineer - Sys. E.

Engineer's degrees in Europe

In most countries of continental Europe, universities specializing in technical studies have awarded their students an engineer's degree instead of a master's degree. The typical length of studies for an engineer's degree has been five years.

Following the introduction of the Bologna process, it has instead become increasingly common for the universities to split technical studies into two parts, the first being the one after which they award the bachelor's degree (baccalaureus, typically three years), and the second part being an optional two years, upon the successful completion of which they award either the engineer's degree or a master's degree (MEng or MSc).

Countries have varied in the implementation of the Bologna process. Most traditional universities continue to have a primary academic degree program distinct from the program to obtain the Bachelor of Engineering degree. For example, in Finland the two concepts — academic and vocational engineering degree — remain separate, even if the qualification no longer requires one or the other de jure.

A German-style engineer's degree is considered equivalent to a MSc degree in U.S. or UK and in international context, the holders of the Engineer's degree are authorized to use MSc. However, there has been some debate over whether the Engineers should differentiate themselves from a Master of Science, this degree having become victim of inflation lately. It might also be argued that, because the European high school curriculum covers the topics of the typical U.S. freshman year, the five-year-long engineer's degree is actually the complete equivalent of the U.S. degree.

In France, engineering is taught in Ecoles d'Ingénieurs, which are part of the French Grandes écoles famous system. Since the Bologna process, the Diplôme d'Ingénieur is officially considered to be at the level of a European master's degree, though many argue that it is a bit more than a mere master's degree since competitive exams allow only top students to enter the Grandes écoles system. It is often considered as something between MSc and MEng when compared to the U.S. system as it is a blend of strong theoretical knowledge and professional experience.

Individual country variants

In countries with significant German influence on higher education, the engineer's degree was one attained as a Diplom, and was typically awarded after around five years of study. In addition to Germany itself, this has included states like Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.

In German, the engineer's degree is called Diplomingenieur (abbr. Dipl.-Ing.). The word diplom refers to the thesis written at the end of the studies. After successful completion of this degree, the engineers were able to enter into two more years of study for a Magister degree.

In Finnish, the engineer's degree is called diplomi-insinööri (abbr. DI), and is obtained after six years of studying. Under the Bologna process, this is split into two parts, the first being one where the students are awarded the intermediate tekniikan kandidaatti degree.

The German title Ingenieur (abbreviated Ing.) is used for engineers without an academic degree, obtained after four years of study without scientific research. The German Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen) used to award these titles, as well as the degree Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) (abbr. Dipl.-Ing (FH)), a professional degree in engineering. They are intermediate in rank between a bachelor's degree and a master's degree.

This is being modified by the Bologna process, as in the future, a degree from a University of Applied Sciences will become equal in rank to the equivalent degree from a traditional university. This change is somewhat controversial among the existing holders of an engineer's degree, because they perceive it as a devaluation of their existing degree.

In Finland, the degree insinööri (AMK) is a professional degree from a Finnish ammattikorkeakoulu, the equivalent of German Fachhochoschule degree.

In the western Slavic-speaking countries, the engineer's degree is called inżynier (Polish), inžinier (Slovak) or inženır (Czech), the abbreviation is Ir. (inż. in Poland, Ing. in the Czech Republic and Slovakia) and is written before the person's name.

In Poland, the degree of inżynier is available after 3- or 3.5-studies (like licencjat in non-engieering science) after final thesis completed (rather easier subjects taken than for MSc., or magister inżynier (abbr. mgr inż. placed before the name of degree holder), which refers to MSc. and engineer together, and is available after 5-years study and final thesis completed.

In Belgium, the degree is Burgerlijk Ingenieur or Ingénieur Civil (abbrev. Ir.).

In Portugal, the degree is Engenheiro (abbrev. Eng.), and in Spain it is called Ingeniero (Ing).

In Greece, the degree is Διπλωματούχος Μηχανικός (diplomatouhos mihanikos) and the abbreviation is Διπλ.-Μηχ..

In the Netherlands, the degree is Ingenieur (abbrev. ir.). Also, ing is used in the Netherlands and in Belgium, but this is a non-academic, professional degree.

In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the degree is Civilingeniør/Sivilingeniør/Civilingenjör (regardless of the actual specialty and thus not to be confused with the English civil engineer). This retains the 19th century idea that the "actual" engineers were the military ones.

In Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, the degree is специалист инженер (specialist inzener), a first degree after 5 years of study.

In France, the degree is Diplôme d'Ingénieur, while the title is Ingénieur diplômé (ID) but is never used before the holder's name.

In France, the Diplôme d'Ingénieur (word for word: Engineer's Degree) can be obtained after five years of engineering studies after the Baccalauréat.

In Italy the degree called "laurea di dottore in ingegneria" (BEng level) can be be obtained after 3 years of engineering studies;the degree called "laurea magistrale in ingegneria" (MEng level) can be obtained after five years of engineering studies.

Romania follows the French system and the engineering degree is called "Diploma de inginer", this being a 5 year degree course equivalent to a Master's degree (MSc/M.Eng). The five year course concludes with a comprehensive set of specialising exams ("examen de diploma"). Marks 9 or 10 are considered exceptional. Some universities award a so called "Diploma de Sub-inginer" which is a 3 year course equivalent to a B.Eng degree.

The Spanish case is practically identical to the French but for the non-existence of Grandes Écoles. Engineer's degrees in Spain traditionally used to be (at least nominally) six-year programs but the tendency since the mid 90s has been to reduce them to five years. The last step to get the degree is the Proyecto Fin de Carrera (Degree Project), which involves a combination of application development and some research work. Students submit a dissertation that they have to defend. The Spanish official name for the degree is Ingeniero (Engineer) but it is also frequently mentioned as Ingeniero Superior (Higher Engineer) in order to distinguish it from the Ingeniero Técnico (Technical Engineer) degree, which is a three-year degree (involving also sometimes a Degree Project) roughly equivalent to a Bachelor of Engineering.

In Croatia, the old system included the engineer's degrees diplomirani inženjer (abbr. dipl.ing.) which was awarded by university faculties, and a lower ranked engineer's degrees inženjer (abbr. ing.) which was awarded by polytechnics. The situation was the same in other countries previously part of Yugoslavia.

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