Engineering reform: how access to the profession is changing with the introduction of the qualifying degree

The qualifying degree will apply only to new students enrolling in engineering faculties. This is the principle around which the rules currently being drawn up revolve, with a view to introducing the new assessment that will replace the state examination and which, in effect, will grant access to the profession of engineer.

This principle must be applied differently depending on the circumstances: it is already possible to provide some initial guidance, although the work carried out by the technical working group at the Ministry of Universities and Research will be decisive on a number of aspects. This will conclude in mid-October and will then be followed by the decrees implementing the reform. The aim is to begin with the new degree programmes from the next academic year. We have summarised the various situations, thanks to clarifications provided by the President of the National Council of Engineers, Angelo Domenico Perrini.

In principle, this change will not affect them. On certain points, however, it will be the new technical committee that provides definitive answers. Those who are already enrolled should therefore complete the course as it currently stands, with the option of sitting the state examination without a qualifying degree. There is a possibility, supported by the National Council ofEngineers, that those who begin the final two years once the new system is already in force may have the option of pursuing a qualifying degree instead of the state examination, thereby undertaking their work placement between the fourth and fifth years.

For these graduates, who have completed the five-year course, the state examination will remain in its old format. These are a small number of cases which, as time goes on, will become increasingly rare. This scenario also applies to those who obtain their master’s degree immediately following the reform; for example, those who will graduate from university this year.

The reform will be accompanied by a reorganisation of the register of engineers, which will be brought into line with the new degree system. The register will be expanded from the current three sectors to five, accessible only to holders of a master’s degree, with the reorganisation designed to ensure greater consistency. The sectors will be: civil and environmental engineering, industrial engineering, information engineering, biomedical and clinical engineering, and management engineering. In this context, Section B, dedicated to junior engineers, will gradually be phased out. In practice, this will not entail any significant changes for those already registered. The section will remain open until the last registered member has left. Simply put, once the reform has been approved, it will no longer be possible to join Section B.