Academic and workplace profiles of engineering professional development

In this paper, the authors set out to examine the relationship between employability and professionalism for engineering graduates. In today's labour market, graduation with a degree is often not sufficient in itself to secure employment. The authors suggest that this is a result of different political and economic developments, such as globalisation, the development of knowledge-led economic policies and the political drift from neo-liberal to the third way (social democratic) policies, all of which have impacted on and shaped the current notion of employability and professionalism. These concepts are briefly outlined and contrasted in how and where they can be related to the education of a professional engineer. Based on this contrast, two routes, academic and work related, to achieving the necessary standards for recognition as a chartered engineer are examined. Finally, the authors suggest that these two routes do not in fact deliver the same profile. The contradiction that this poses, in that either route appears to be acceptable for arriving at supposedly the same point of professional development, is considered from both employability and professionalism perspectives.