Schemes for Professional Engineers

Engineering Professional Development Awards

The most important resource that any innovative and growing enterprise has is the knowledge and skills possessed by its employees. For any enterprise to compete successfully and grow in the challenging business environment and global marketplace of the 21st century, it must strive to become a world-class performer. One way of creating the necessary competitive advantage is to ensure that the knowledge and skills flowing into it from its employees reflect the very latest cutting-edge technology and business practice.

This scheme assists enterprises with this task by awarding funds to support training programmes which focus on the development of their engineering staff.

Nature of the scheme

The overall objective is to encourage and financially support enterprises with the cost of strategically aware, quality guided employee centred training programmes in support of their growth and on-going success.

There are two tiers of award: £10,000 and £5,000 and prospective applicants should indicate for which level of award they are applying.

The award is not intended to be a reimbursement of the total training costs, as the Academy is keen to see these awards stimulating an investment in training from the respective enterprises.

Nature of a Training Programme

Any training activity will be given due consideration. Advice on the suitability of activities is available from the Academy.

Training activities may be given by external providers or be generated and delivered in-house. Examples of such activities include:

  • Work-based learning over the internet and e-courses.

  • In-house seminars, short and bespoke courses.

  • Training required by the implementation of new legislation or standards.

  • Attendance at conferences, seminars and trade fairs.

  • Short-term secondments to subsidiaries or to other organisations in the UK for defined purposes.

  • Part-time and distance learning courses and packages.

Companies are encouraged to think laterally in composing their training programmes in order to stimulate and focus the creativity, capability and business orientation of their engineers in effective and exciting ways.

As guidance proposed programmes should:

  • Be shown to relate in a clear way to the business plan or current strategic objectives of the enterprise concerned.

  • Benefit participants as individual education or training to advance their individual careers, or should benefit the enterprise where there is a need to upskill or retrain employees.

  • Include formal assessment of individual participants following the various training activities.

The Academy is also keen to receive applications from enterprises working towards product quality standards and marks of good employer practice such as Investors in People.

Which companies are eligible to apply?

  • All UK enterprises operating in the engineering, manufacturing, ICT or construction and building services sectors.

  • Any size of enterprise is able to participate. Applications from SMEs, small business units of large companies and new business start-ups are particularly encouraged.

What are the eligibility criteria for Programme Participants?

Employees or programme participants as they are called in this scheme should,

  • be qualified ideally with a recognised engineering qualification such as a degree, Higher or National Diploma/Certificate or NVQ Level III;

  • have at least two years of industrial or commercial experience.

How to apply

The application, consisting of the training programme, company form and a participant form for each employee involved must be submitted in electronic form before 24 October 2013.

Applicants will be notified as to the outcome of the selection process by early January 2014.

Training Programme Content

Each programme should include details about the training activities to be undertaken with justification and post-training objectives for each participant. Where the programme involves a course, the provider must be identified and the start date and duration made clear. Brief details on the course content should also be appended.

If a secondment is to be undertaken, the work programme should be outlined and supported by a letter from a contact at the host organisation, who should preferably be the project supervisor.

Each training programme must include a breakdown of the total costs involved. A figure for the amount the enterprise will be committing to the programme must be indicated in the breakdown. This may include contributions towards fees, books, stationery and IT equipment, travelling expenses and salaries paid during any of the activities.

Follow-up and reporting

The only subsequent contacts with the Academy are for the enterprises and programme participants to show eventual attainment in the form of certificates and diplomas achieved, and to give agreement for the winning schemes to be written up as case studies with the aim of publicising effective practice.

For further information and application packs, please contact Anne Mahabal at the Academy's address.

[E-mail Anne Mahabal]

 

 

Updated February 2013

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