The Engineering Council's Influence on Building Services Engineering Education and Qualifications: Towards an Internationalist
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Doctoral Thesis Derek Charles King September 2017 The Engineering Council’s influence on Building Services Engineering education and qualifications: towards an internationalist education and training model Derek Charles King A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Liverpool John Moores University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. September 2017 i Doctoral Thesis Derek Charles King September 2017 Abstract A large number of Building Services Engineering (BSE) graduates from UK universities either already live and work abroad, or aspire to do so, and the destinations for such migrants are most often English-speaking countries or countries where English is commonly used in business. Academic programmes in BSE are usually professionally accredited by the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) under licence from the Engineering Council (EC). In the common destination countries for UK BSE graduates the Washington, Sydney and Dublin Accord (WSDA) agreements prevail, meaning that there is a mutual recognition of engineering qualifications and professional accreditation of academic courses, and this facilitates international mobility. Since it is widely accepted that buildings account for as much as 50% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, it could be said that there is a worldwide sustainability agenda with respect to buildings. The common factor across national boundaries is that Building Services Engineers, as central members of building design teams, must provide much of the specialist practical knowledge to enable more energy efficient buildings to be designed and constructed, and it is therefore likely that UK educated engineers will be working in far more varied overseas locations in the near future. The main aim of the work is to synthesise an education and training model to encourage and enable international mobility of UK BSE graduates, and to carry out some evaluation of this model. This work sets out initially to question whether a UK education in BSE necessarily provides UK graduates with the best possible skillset for work abroad. The influence of the EC upon the content of BSE study programmes has been examined, and the research assesses the benefits of the EC’s influence in countries with different economic and political priorities to the UK, other western economies and to the WSDA countries. Following identification and analysis of the main issues, the model was constructed and evaluations were made using semi-structured interviews. The methodology used in this research is necessarily underpinned by a pragmatist paradigm, which has led to the use of a mixed methods blended approach. In addition to thorough review and analysis of literature, the practical methods employed include a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews in three phases: an exploratory phase, an in-depth analysis, and a concluding phase. The early conclusions indicated that the EC influence upon BSE study programmes is generally regarded as necessary and beneficial, since it provides an engineering skillset that is internationally respected and recognised. There is, however, less confidence in applying this in an international arena outside of the WSDA umbrella since different parts of the world face different economic challenges, divergent societal imperatives, and diverse attitudes to sustainability and green issues. An education and training model was constructed to address these issues and, after initial testing, was found generally to be a workable proposition to enhance the international prospects of UK BSEs, and further, could be adopted in the UK under the auspices of the Degree Apprenticeship initiatives. Such a model is, however, unlikely to be adopted in many overseas locations due to differing cultural views on the value of work-based learning and apprenticeship. ii Doctoral Thesis Derek Charles King September 2017 Acknowledgements I must acknowledge with gratitude the support and guidance from members of my supervisory team, particularly my Supervisor, Prof Alison Cotgrave, and Second Supervisors, Dr Matthew Tucker and Prof Andy Shaw. All those concerned have acted with utmost professionalism and have given generously of their time and expertise throughout this project. I would also extend thanks to my numerous colleagues in the Departments of Built Environment and Civil Engineering at Liverpool John Moores University for their encouragement, support, advice and comradeship. It is an exceptional place to work and to study. Special thanks are owed to members of my own team, Dr Jiangtao Du, Laurence Brady and Steve Wynn, for the interest they have taken, their expert input and their most loyal friendship. In my personal life I have been constantly inspired and motivated to see this work through to completion by my life partner and soul mate, Jennifer Byrne, who has supported me unconditionally and has continually offered reassurance whenever I was in doubt. Dedication I dedicate this work to my mother Valerie and my father Derek snr, who together taught me the value of hard work; and to my two children, Anna and Peter, who fill me with pride whenever I think of them, which is often. iii Doctoral Thesis Derek Charles King September 2017 Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Dedication iii List of Figures vii List of Tables viii Commonly Used Abbreviations and Acronyms ix Chapter 1 – Introduction 1 1.1 The Building Services Engineering discipline 1 1.2 BSE education in UK 3 1.3 The Engineering Council, PEIs and the UK-SPEC 6 1.4 The international field 8 1.5 Research aim and objectives 10 1.5.1 Specific objectives 11 1.6 Structure of the thesis 13 Chapter 2 – Literature Review and Initial Findings 14 2.1 The EC, SARTOR and the UK-SPEC 14 2.2 The EC and the PEIs 18 2.3 The CIBSE 24 2.4 EC registration and professional membership 29 2.4.1 Chartered Engineer (CEng) 32 2.4.2 Incorporated Engineer (IEng) 33 2.4.3 Academic programmes for CEng and IEng registration 34 2.4.4 Engineering Technician (EngTech) 36 2.4.5 ICT Technician (ICTTech) 37 2.4.6 PEI membership and member grades 39 2.4.7 Summary of EC registration requirements 43 2.5 Defining competence 45 2.6 Relating engineering competencies to the design of academic courses 50 2.6.1 Course aims 51 2.6.2 Course learning outcomes 54 2.6.3 Design of BSE courses 55 2.6.4 Immediate international comparisons of BSE academic programmes 61 2.7 Accreditation of academic courses 63 2.7.1 Accreditation process 64 2.7.2 Accreditation philosophy 65 2.8 Accreditation of engineering courses worldwide 67 2.8.1 The Washington, Sydney and Dublin Accords 69 2.8.2 The Bologna Process and EUR-ACE 73 2.8.3 International licensing of engineers 76 iv Doctoral Thesis Derek Charles King September 2017 2.9 Chapter summary 79 Chapter 3 – Research Methodology and Data Collection Techniques 82 3.1 Scope and content of chapter 82 3.2 Research methods utilised in this work 83 3.2.1 Literature review and analysis 87 3.2.2 Questionnaire surveys 88 3.2.3 The questionnaire strategy adopted by this research 91 3.2.4 Individual interviews 93 3.2.5 The interview strategy adopted by this research 95 3.3 Research purpose and philosophy 100 3.3.1 Ontology 101 3.3.2 Epistemology 101 3.3.3 Pragmatism 103 3.3.4 Philosophical stance adopted by this research 103 3.4 Research approach 104 3.4.1 Deductive research 104 3.4.2 Inductive research 104 3.4.3 Abductive research 104 3.4.4 Research approach adopted in this project 105 3.5 Qualitative, quantitative and mixed research methods 106 3.5.1 Qualitative research methods 106 3.5.2 Quantitative research methods 109 3.5.3 Mixed research methods 110 3.6 Research ethics 113 Chapter 4 – Data Analysis 115 4.1 Sampling 115 4.1.1 Non-probability sampling 116 4.1.2 Probability sampling 116 4.1.3 Pilot sampling 117 4.2 Data types 118 4.3 Analysis of exploratory semi-structured interviews 120 4.3.1 Relative sizes and influence of the PEIs 120 4.3.2 Approaches to engineer registration 121 4.3.3 Lack of parity between IEng and CEng registration 121 4.3.4 Approaches to course accreditation 122 4.3.5 Nature of the PECs 123 4.3.6 BSE courses and curriculum 124 4.4 Analysis of the questionnaire survey 125 4.4.1 Statistical testing for data normality 126 4.4.2 Analysis and testing of data 126 4.5 Analysis of in-depth semi-structured interviews 141 4.5.1 The influence of the CIBSE, the EC, and the WSDA agreements 142 4.5.2 Industry involvement in BSE courses 144 v Doctoral Thesis Derek Charles King September 2017 4.5.3 Content of BSE courses 145 4.5.4 Course accreditation processes 148 4.5.5 Registration of engineers 149 4.5.6 Perceptions about UK BSEs 150 4.6 Summary 151 Chapter 5 – Development and Synthesis of an Education and training Model 153 5.1 Towards an internationalist model 153 5.2 Content of the model 156 5.2.1 Academic content 156 5.2.2 Work based learning 158 5.3 Structure of the proposed education and training model 160 5.3.1 Overall structure of the proposed model 161 5.3.2 Detailed structure of the new model 163 Chapter 6 – Initial Evaluations of the Proposed Education and Training Model 185 6.1 Concluding semi-structured interviews 185 6.1.1 Overall ethos of the model 190 6.1.2 Content of degree programme 190 6.1.3 Content of work based learning programme 191 6.1.4 Applicability of the model 192 Chapter 7 – Conclusions 194 7.1. UK focus 195 7.2 International focus 199 7.3 Synthesis and testing of an education and training model 201 7.4 Further research 203 7.5 Research contributions and summary 205 References 207 Appendices