Education & Training

Hits: 36967

Professional Development Department

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Professional Development (PD) Department is one of the six departments of the COREN Registry. It is fashioned after the Education and Training Committee of Council.

The Professional Development Department carries out one of the major mandates of COREN: Accreditation of Engineering Programmes in Nigerian Institutions of Learning.

2.0 MAJOR FUNCTIONS
The major functions of the E & T Department include:

i. Accreditation of Engineering Programmes
ii. Continuing Professional Development
iii. Assessment of Engineering Qualifications
iv. Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE)
v. Special Assignments: These include the maintenance of the Secretariat of the COREN Engineering Assembly and the Committee of Deans of Engineering and Technology of Nigerian Universities (CODET).

2.1 Accreditation of Engineering Programmes
Section 1 (1) (b) of Decrees 55 of 1970 and 27 of 1992 (amendment), now the Engineers (Registration, etc) Act CAP E 11, 2004, empowers COREN to
“determine what standards of knowledge and skills are to be attained by persons seeking to be registered as engineering personnel and to raise those standards from time to time as circumstances may permit”. For this purpose, the Act provides that COREN shall conduct visitations to Engineering Institutions in Nigeria or elsewhere for the purpose of:

(a) accrediting their courses (sections 7 and 8 of the Decrees);
(b) withdrawing any previous approvals, if so warranted and as prescribed in sub-sections (3) – (5) of section 7”.

Similarly Section 9 sub section 6 of the Act provides:

“An educational institution for the training of persons in the engineering profession shall submit syllabus of its programme, content and minimum facilities to the Council for approval before a course approved by the National Universities Commission or the National Board for Technical Education, or any other engineering body, is commenced".

COREN therefore carries out Accreditation visitation to all Engineering Programmes in Universities, Polytechnics (and Monotechnics), and Technical Colleges as a Quality Assurance mechanism to ensure that Engineering programmes meet the minimum requirements in

 Academic Structure (Curriculum)
 Staffing (Academic, Technical and Administrative)
 Physical Facilities (Laboratories, Workshops, Classrooms, Office accommodation, Environment, etc)
 Library Facilities
 ICT
 Management and Funding

2.1.1 Resource Persons for Accreditation

Highly knowledgeable and experienced Engineers drawn from the Industry and Academics are carefully selected as Resource Persons on Accreditation Visitations.

Such persons must have a high level of integrity and must be firm and fair in the discharge of the responsibility. They are usually senior engineers with not less than 10 years of post qualification experience and must have been registered with COREN for not less than 6 years. Such persons must also
Be seen as active in the activities of the Engineering Profession.

2.1.2 Functions of the Education and Training Department on Accreditation Matters

The E & T Department carries out the following specific functions with respect to Accreditation:

 Scheduling of visitations;
 Proposing of list of visitors for each visitation;
 Presenting of accreditation report to the E & T Committee;
 Preparing and forwarding of Council decisions to each University;
 Updating the list of approved Engineering programmes;
 Capturing all relevant data obtained from accreditation visitation;
 Drafting letters on accreditation issue for the Registrar;
 Coordinating and carrying out all secretariat functions for accreditation programmes.

2.2 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) This is a major objective of COREN. As part of its mandate, COREN ensures that Engineering Personnel in Nigeria continue to develop professionally to ensure they meet up with the dynamics and challenges of global competition.
The Council therefore organizes regular workshops, seminars and conferences for its Engineering Personnel with facilitators coming from all parts of the world.

Some of the workshops organised in the past three years include:

 Engineering Education in Nigeria – Using tools like Polymath, Matlab and Electronic Workbench
 Value for Money in Engineering Projects
 Design and Costing of Highway Structures

These workshops have been organised for various groups at different times.
The E & T Department functions here in the areas of

- Proposing the workshops;
- Organising the workshops;
- Capturing relevant data from the workshops.

2.3 Professional Interview

The Department carries out the mandate of Council in accordance to the Act by “determining what standards of knowledge and skill are to be attained by persons seeking to become registered as engineers and raising those standards from time to time as circumstances may permit”.

The Education and Training Department therefore sets the standard in producing Engineering graduates, examines the products through the Professional Interview and forwards successful applicants to the Registration Department for registration.

Professional Interview is however organised for personnel who are not corporate members of their professional associations. The understanding is that those who have been elected corporate members of their associations must have gone through an examination similar to the Professional Interview and are therefore exempted from the Interview. The reverse also holds in that Engineering Personnel registered with COREN are exempted from examination when they want to join their associations.

The COREN Professional Interview takes place four times in a year. The specific functions of the Department include:

- Determining the suitability of candidates;
- Short-listing of candidates;
- Liaising with the Chief Examiners;
- Propositions on dates and requirements for the Registrar’s approval;
- Letters of invitation to candidates;
- Attending to complaints or other correspondences before, during and after the interview.

2.4 Assessment of Qualifications The Department assesses Engineering Qualifications for registration. In doing this, it is guided by Council decisions and policies as well as international accrediting institutions such as ABET or FEANI. Cases are usually referred from the Registration Department. This is a very critical function and must be handled with extreme care.

2.5 Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE)

The Supervised Industrial Training Scheme in Engineering (SITSIE) is a one-year post-graduate training programme in a relevant industry, for an engineering graduate of an accredited university or polytechnic, designed to meet his/her practical experience requirements for the purpose of registration with COREN as a professional engineer or an engineering technologist. It is an empowerment mechanism which could possibly lead to engineering personnel creating their own jobs and thereby drastically reducing unemployment.

The functions of the Department include gathering data on intake and graduation of Engineering students annually, articulating training institutions, posting of trainees and monitoring of training.

The scheme is regarded as a Continuing Professional Development Programme on a large scale.

It is yet to take off.

2.6 Committee and Council Matters Arising from the above functions, the E & T Department carries out the following on Council and Committee matters:

 Maintains the Secretariat for the E & T Committee on behalf of the Registrar.
 Prepares memoranda for the attention of the Registrar for presentation to the E & T Committee.
 Takes appropriate actions on the decisions of Council or the Committee.

3.0 A SPECIAL FUNCTION: The Engineering Assembly

The Engineering Assembly is an annual event organised by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, COREN, to bring together all members of the Engineering Family (Engineers, Engineering Technologists, Engineering Technicians and Engineering Craftsmen) to discuss on matters concerning the Engineering Profession aimed at technological development of the nation.

It is a major activity of the Council. The Secretariat of the Main Organising Committee of the Assembly is kept in the
E & T Department. It is however an activity for all staff of COREN.