822P81129PCE UAE(NEWSLETTER 2008No10)(AM) DOWNLOAD
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PCE PROFESSIONAL CHARTERED ENGINEERS
NEWSLETTER 2008 No10
UAE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES GROUP(PCE UAE)
Check web: www.pceuae.net
PCE UAE welcomes
all UAE based Chartered Engineers (CEng), Incorporated Engineers (IEng), Engineering
Technicians (EngT) registered with
The Engineering Council (EC) plus other members of the 35 Professional Engineering
Institutions (PEI) licensed by EC whose UK Councils confirm
acceptance of the 1996 invitation to support PCE UAE to International
Group Regulations 1949 updated..
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
NOTES
Dear Colleagues
CHANGE
Change presents a challenge, especially when it comes
unexpectedly or results from lack of consideration, consultation and communication.
I think particularly of recent change resulting from
1)
the credit crunch
and the potential impact of it on development projects and jobs in UAE
2)
the unilateral action
by ICE in UK to re-establish a Branch without prior reference to PCE UAE
3)
the significant changes
in energy sourcing – particularly using Nuclear Power generation
I should be someone who welcomes well planned beneficial
change, particularly as I changed from Civil, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
in to Management Consultancy a number of years ago. I was proud to be elected a Fellow of The Institute
of Management Consultancy (IMC) which was founded in the 1960s. Its constitution
was based on that of ICE. Members
were mostly from Engineering – but are now mainly from Accountancy.
One book on Management Consultancy was titled ‘The Change Agents’ and it refers to the
psychology of change and how to implement change effectively. Recently IMC linked up with the Chartered Management
Institute (CMI) and has now merged with the Association of Business Advisers
to form what I like to consider as The Institute of Business Management Consultancy
(IBMC).
Such change is similar to change in parts of the Engineering
Profession. In 1871 some members broke
away from ICE to form IMechE. Some
years ago IEE (founded 1871) merged with IProdE / IMfgE and others to form
IET and changed from qualifying only for CEng to qualyifying for IEng and
EngT / Tech. Now, the Institution
of Nuclear Engineers (INucE) is merging with the Nuclear Society to become
the Nuclear Institute on 2009 01 01.
Later, I comment further on these topics and would welcome
constructive feedback via the PCE UAE Honorary Secretary (Chisholm@arencoar.com) but first we refer to PCE UAE and its AIMS, FORMATION,
PLANS, PROGRESS & EVENT ACTIVITY. More specifically please refer to attached NOTICES for meetings
in December including the AGM and Dinner on Thu 2008 12 11..
AIMS
The aims of PCE UAE include:-
·
To increase the status
and representation of the Engineering Profession
·
To improve its contribution
to the further development of the UAE
·
To promote and encourage
the acquisition of knowledge relevant to the Engineering Profession
·
To establish friendly
exchanges between members
·
To arrange meetings
for the reading and discussion of papers and visits of engineering interest
·
To do so in collaboration
with other relevant bodies including UAE national organisations as appropriate
·
To stimulate among
members interest in the work and qualifications of the Engineering Council(EC)
·
To do so for the
EC and the sponsoring Institutions
·
To promote the Sponsoring
Institutions locally
FOUNDING
Suffice to say that it was the members of ICE and IMechE
based in UAE who, following a survey, report and recommendations agreed to
petition their respective Councils in UK to dissolve their respective local
Branches to give the lead to form PCE UAE which was – and we believe still
is – the first and only International Joint Group of Engineering Council (EC)
linked Professional Engineering Institutions (PEI).
The Councils approved the PCE UAE Constitution which is based on the
original 1949 (and subsequently amended) ‘Regulations for International Joint
Groups by ICE, IMechE, IEE and IChemE. This
was in line with recommendations in the Fairclough Report titled ‘Unification
of the Engineering Profession’ which among other things meant that the larger
and older PEI would welcome and support the newer and often more dynamic specialist
PEI. More background can be found
on www.pceuae.net.
PLANS & PROGRESS
PCE UAE is now coming to the end of its thirteenth year
since its formation effective 1996 01 01. The original Committee and members
had a vision and mission to develop what we believed was – and believe still
is – the first and only worldwide International Group of UK linked Professional
Engineers welcoming all UAE Country based registrants of the British Engineering
Council (EC) plus all other members of the Professional Engineering Institutions
(PEI) licensed by the EC who care to support our aims and activities.
They also planned to welcome members of the 16 EC Professional
Associates (PA) and other related organisations – especially the sole member
of one in the country. One such individual
was traced in Ra’s Al Khaimah and was delighted to meet colleagues.
He was a member of the Institute of Physics (IPhys founded 1874).
Also, one of the 16 PAs is the Association for Project Management (APM
founded 172 and now aiming to be an EC licensed Chartered body.
In 1995 there were 40 EC licensed PEI with around 1000
potential members in UAE. Today the
number of PEI has reduced to 35, mainly by mergers. However PCE UAE potential membership has increased to 2000. In the case of ICE membership has been increased
by over 100% from 262 to between 400 and 500 depending on whether one reads
the ICE web pages showing 385 or statements by officials quoting over 500.
One significant point is that ICE membership represents
under 25% of PCE UAE potential membership yet Chartered Engineer members of
ICE on the PCE UAE Committee exceeds 50% due mainly to its historical background
and fact that ICE had agreed to provide the Administrative link to UK and
the relevant PEI based there.to review budgets and audited accounts and collect
and forward grant aided funding.
Regrettably such plans did not materialise and while
ICE arranged and forwarded some funding from IMechE (and ICE) in 1998 no anticipated
budgeted funding has been received from UK in the last ten years.
This has placed significant restraints on PCE UAEs operations and our
ability to market The Engineering Profession, its constituent PEI and serve
members at an appropriate professional level based in UAE to the extent initially
envisaged. We are therefore grateful to volunteer members,
to a number of sponsors and and to speakers so enabling us to achieve aims
and objectives including undertaking development and Chartered Professional
Review (CPR) Interviews for various PEI etc. .
The action to form PCE UAE was initiated by and supported
by members of these and other PEI then in the country plus their respective
UK based councils. This was in line with the recommendations of the 1995 Fairclough
Report ‘Unification of the Engineering
Profession’ prepared by a multi-discipline committee chaired by Sir John Fairclough
in UK. The thinking behind the proposals
is still relevant, as were those in the earlier Finnieston Report,
This is particularly relevant as members agreed that
if we did not work together government departments, private employers and
the general public are being asked to deal with many different bodies and
to understand upwards of 250 pre and post-nominal qualification for British
registrants when the UAE and other countries can ‘market’ and get by with
less than 10 – especially when qualifications
often relate relate to overlapping engineering disciplines in upwards of 50
PEI/PA.
While the PCE UAE potential membership has increased
to over 2000 this excludes members of 16 EC Professional Affiliates (PA) whose
members we welcome along with those of other professional bodies with whom
PCE UAE has held joint events over the years.
These include CIOB, RIBA, RICS, as well as SPE and PMI and of course
the UAE Society of Engineers (UAESE) with whom we have worked closely and
who have invited the PCE UAE Chair and PCE UAE HonSec to be members of their
appointments committee which now accepts Engineering Council qualifications
for membership. Check PCE UAE web
at www.pceuae.net for more information.
EVENTS (PROGRAMME & NOTICES)
Our strategy has been to provide members with an interesting
and relevant mix of events with general themes and specific topics in a variety
of locations throughout the emirates. Basic events were scheduled on the first and second Tuesday of each
month in the population centres of Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively with preferably
a related site visit on the third Tuesday and a Professional Review Preparation
(PRP) meeting held centrally at Ghantout on the last Tuesday of each month.
Other key events were held there and elsewhere in the
country if and when members proposed or offered to arrange these. PCE UAE Committee has arranged programmes
for official visits to the country of at least six Presidents of four PEI,
which have included meeting key Ministers and Business leaders as well as
addressing members at Ghantout with visits to sites in main centres including
Al Ain.
A key part of our strategy has been that the committee
included any PEI Country Representatives and member arranging CPR Interviews
This helped ensure co-ordination as such interviews are based on one
common factor – the EC requirements set out in the Standard for Professional
Engineering Competence (EC UK-SPEC) Some
PEI supplement these eg IStructE with a basic design examination.
In 2007 PCE UAE Committee members arranged 30 CPR Interviews
for applicants in five PEI Many of
these were via ICE where PCE UAE Committee Vice-Chair Division A EurIng Stephen
Taylor arranged these Similarly The
IMechE Country Representative arranged CPR Interviews recently for three applicants
as did Dr Er Roger Brooks PCE UAE
Vice-Chair for IChemE and EurIng David Stones PCE UAE Programme Member for
for CEng via CIWEM.
In January we issued a PROGRAMME FRAMEWORK outlining
themes and topics for the twelve months of the year. That included events
in July and August. Attendance during
these holiday months was very encouraging as were the numbers who attended
events during the Holy month of Ramadan.
Inevitably changes had to be made related to availability of speakers
– but meetings took place at scheduled times.
For
December we plan five events
in various locations on Tuesdays 2008 12 02 Abu Dhabi (National Day), 09 Dubai,
16 TBC, 30 PRP Ghantout plus on Thursday
11 the PCE UAE Annual General Meeting and Dinner. NOTICES attached. Do
plan to join colleagues at meetings and particularly on Thursday 11th when
wives, friends and colleagues are welcome as the AGM will be short. that evening.
All Committee posts are deemed vacant. Nominations agreed by individuals with named
supporters are sought from new (and younger) volunteers. These should be submitted in writing or e-mail
to the PCE UAE HonSec by Tuesday December 09. Why not consider volunteering
for a post or nominate a Chartered colleague. Also, we seek additional younger pro-active
members to join the younger members group for which we already have a few
volunteers.
In
November we also had five
events on 2008 11 04, 11, 18 and 25 plus 22 with interesting and well attended
presentations on aspects of Project Management followed by a site visit and
presentation by the Program Director at the offices of the Supervision Committee
for the Abu Dhabi International Airport (SCADIA) which saw its second runway
opened this month and plans going ahead for the new central terminal complex
and other developments.
The event on Saturday Nov 22 was held at Ghantoot and
included seminars presented by Lisa Duffy, IChemE Marketing Executive – the forenoon for prospective Chartered Engineers
and the afternoon for volunteer Mentors and CPR Interviewers. These were followed by three Interviews for
CEng applicants via IMechE graduates of Virginia in USA and other UK. The latter is keen to encourage his staff to
seek EC Registration via an appropriate PEI.
16 are multi-national, multi-discipline graduate engineers. We encourage all other Chartered Engineers
to encourage staff – especially UAE Nationals – to do likewise.
CHANGE & LOOKING BACK
There is no problem in looking back as long as we still
plan and look forward. If there is
space and time available I plan to add:
1 a copy
of an old photograph from the Gulf News
dated 1987 04 14 of some participants at the 'Black Tie’ Dinner Dance at Jebel Ali Hotel of the then UAE Branch
of ICE before members in the country decided to disband and form PCE UAE in
1996. My wife Isabel and I were there
– a bit fitter as I found after a Scottish St Andrew’s Society ball last week!
2. a copy
of the PCE UAE Committee Inaugural lunch in 1996 02 attended by the British
Ambassador to the UAE and an EC Senator who flew out and addressed PCE UAE
members at Ghantout that evening. Finally,
3. a copy
of the writer’s response dated 2003 03 15 to a half page article of a Gulf News Interview with the then Chair
of the UAE Society of Engineers (UAESE) headed ‘Developments in modern engineering’
If these are not included in this NEWSLETTER now they
may be loaded on the PCE UAE web pages along with photographs of some participants
at the five PCE UAE Events in which have just taken place in November.
1
The Credit Crunch –
This week a headline in The Telegraph read ’30,000 staff at Woolworths face axe’ and the local
National referred to 500 or 50%
of staff including managers being laid off by December 31 in property companies
including reference in the BBC to Nakheel.
We hope that the re-scheduling of development projects will not have
too great an impact on PCE UAE members. While
numbers of PCE UAE members in ICE has increased from 262tor in 1996 to between 400 and 500 now (depending
on whether one reads the web page or published statements) it is easy to forget
that such membership exceeded 400 many years ago yet had dropped to the Branch
being barely viable in the 1960s.
In the past PCE UAE has in NEWSLETTERS helped some individuals
to find employers but we are not in that business and aim to comply with the
Data Protection Acts. However, we
are able to refer to LEIRUS FZE Recruitment who kindly provided Dhs 1000 in
corporate sponsorship particularly for room rental in Dubai (contact details
via HonSec). .Indeed the Committee
agreed some years ago that PCE UAE was a non profit operation for present
professionals or aspiring professionals and not linked or indebted to any
specific company.
Lack of any anticipated funding support in the form of
grant aid by return of a planned 10% or so of subscriptions paid by members
here to UK based PEIs has necessitated accepting some outside sponsorship
funding and loans from Committee Members.
ICE had agreed to act as the UK-based administrator via which funds
from PEI would be channelled to PCE UAE bank account. Unfortunately various communication problems including loss of documents
couriered to and received by ICE have resulted in no transfers of funds as
in ‘Regs’
2
The ICE action
As a founder member of PCE UAE, ICE also had their Country
Representative and the organiser of their CPR Interviewers (as well as Chartered
Engineer Interviewers) on the PCE UAE Committee. The ICE UAE Country Representative had no specific
Committee nor did other PEI Country Representatives. ICE stated their welcome intention to change
their Country Representative for UAE effective from April 2008 after the writer
had the honour of representing ICE, IMechE (and IET) at the joint convention
for The Middle East and Africa held in Cairo in January.
Two members of ICE Management flew to UAE to confirm
the change in July. Much to the surprise
of the PCE UAE Chair and former Representative as well as the 15 Member PCE
UAE Committee which had 6 Chartered Civil Engineers on board. ICE stated that
not only were they appointing a new Country Representative, but that he would
not be on the PCE UAE Committee and would in fact establish his own Committee,
hence re-establishing a Branch of ICE in the Emirates to undertake specific
tasks related to ICE previously undertaken with no known critical feedback
via the PCE UAE Committee. .
In addition, at the inaugural meeting which I was regrettably
unable to attend due to hospitalisation, our HonSec discovered that ICE had
the honour of having a Council Member based in UAE. Regrettably, it has taken eight months for
me to be contacted by my successor and a similar time for The HonSec to meet
with the Council Member to express the disappointed views of PCE UAE Committee
on behalf of members. A meeting took
place on Wdnesday 2008 11 25 when it was made clear that I as PCE UAE Chair
and the PCE UAE HonSec were primarily contacting ICE Council and Country Representatives
to convey PCE UAE views to ICE acting as the International Group Administrator.
The fact that we were both Chartered Engineers and Fellows
of ICE was secondary as we were representing PCE UAE Committee and members
to express our feelings at the apparent discourtesy of ICE by ignoring the
background to formation of PCE UAE by local members, by the formulation of
International Group Regulations, by the fact that 6 Chartered Engineers and
Fellows/Members of ICE are on the PCE UAE Committee and that two of these
are former Chairmen of the ICE Branch in the UAE – myself in 1993, 1994 and
Er David Spearing Chairman in 1995 prior to election of the Chair of PCE UAE
by members based in the UAE.
It does not appear to have been appreciated – and certainly
not discussed with volunteer members on the ground, that the ICE Branch was barely viable in years
prior to 1995, that many members are multi-discipline and that many PCE UAE
related events including Marketing,
Seminars, Lectures and CPR Interviews are dependent on support from members
in all PEI.. As someone stated ‘we
now have a better appreciation why talks of ICE working closer with IMechE,
IStructE, ASCE etc broke down’ PCE
UAE Committee and Members wish ICE well, must consider ICE future representation
on Committee and trust that it will serve all members in the country unlike
some PEI Branches which are totally centred
on one UAE city.
I came to the UAE in 1985, joined the ICE Branch Committee
in 1987, was elected Chair in 1993 and eventually elected Chair of PCE UAE
for 1996. I regret the change initiated
by ICE in UK without prior referral to members in UAE. While the ICE UK based Manager for the Middle
East did kindly refer to my voluntary service for the profession over a number
of years I do sincerely regret that the ICE have been unable or unwilling
to thank all PCE UAE Committee Members and specifically their own ICE Fellows
and Members who have served on Committee some for even longer than I.
I do so now and refer particularly to former Honorary
Treasurers Er Alel Hadri who served for 9 years and Er David Shaw who took
over and served for a similar number of years and now Er Stanley Falconer
who has kindly volunteered to be PCE UAE Honorary Treasurer to take over from
Yours Truly who has acted as Interim Treasurer pending hopefully acceptance
of David Shaw’s audited statements and PCE UAE Budget submissions to ICE as
they acted as UK Administrator for all supportive PEI – not ICE alone. They have informed us that with effect from
2009 01 01 the IMechE will take over as our PCE UAE International Group Administrator.
As this is not in line with the 1949 Regulations we are unable to comment
further as no minutes of discussion or agreement or specific contacts have
been provided to PCE UAE.
3) the Nuclear Energy Option
Last week I found myself committed to attendance at the
three day Emirates Centre For Strategic Studies and Research 14th
annual Energy Conference where the theme was ‘Nuclear Energy in the Gulf’. I had to leave early on Wednesday to drive
to Dubai to meet for the first time Tim Askew my replacement as ICE UAE Country
Representative, also, for the first time as ICE Council Member, Peter Jefferies
(plus Er Roderick Chisholm and Er Allel Hadri).
At the Conference I had the pleasure of meeting Dr Hans
Blix, Chairman Weapons of Mass destruction Commission and others including
HE Hmad Ali Al Ka’abi, permanent UAE Representative on the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) and John H Large founder and CEO of Large & Associates,
UK. Er John Large presented an interesting paper ‘Lessons from the Nuclear
Countries: Civilian Power v Weaponisation Programmes’ backed up by a video
slides.
Many may remember Dr Blix in relation to searches for
WMD in Iraq. Dr Ka’abi referred to
the Gulf and UAE review of energy sources. Speakers covering other aspects
included Dr Yousef Shatilla Prof. of Nuclear Engineering at the Masdar Institute
of Science and Technology. Forecasts
of development and manpower requirements were made and some of these were
projections 20 years hence taking in UAE Nationals and ‘Long Term Expatriates’
My interest stems from the fact that I was much involved
in the Energy and Nuclear Energy Sector in the 1960’s on contracts for such
locations as Calder Hall, Windscale, Dounreay and Hinkley Point and Trawsfynidd
Nuclear Power Stations. The work for
Dounreay included the Westinghouse Nuclear Submarine reactor and subsequent
experience while serving as commissioned Pilot in the Royal Air Force included
security and simulated attack flights in Valiant Nuclear Bombers.
Nuclear Engineering was new in those days. The EC licensed and hence PCE UAE linked Institution
of Nuclear Engineers (INecE) was founded in 1959, will now merge and be the
Nuclear Institute from 2009 01 01. With
political and policy cutbacks in nuclear programmes, especially after Three
Mile Island and Chernobyl, Nuclear Engineering skills have been lost.
Members should now consider developing their knowledge and skills in
Mechanical, Chemical and other Professional Engineering disciplines to help
meet the challenges ahead
I was pleased to note that amongst the 20 or so speakers
there was at least one Professional Chartered Engineer (CEng) and who is a
Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Member of the Institution
of Nuclear Engineers and of the British Nuclear Engineering Society and Fellow
of the Royal Society of Arts. His
bio for the conference states that he is a member of The Institution of Civil
Engineers and his card lists ‘GradICE’. I pointed this slight anomaly out to him when confirming my appreciation
of the presentation. I would have
welcomed more such contributions by potential PCE UAE members and ask that
present members contact the HonSec by e-mail to offer talks.
I look forward to meeting you at least one of the scheduled
events for December and wish you and yours a Good New Year in 2009.
Er Alister I M Macmillan United
Arab Emirates
Chair PCE UAE
2008 11 29