2007 10 29 PCE UAE Membership update note

PCE UAE membership of UK based Engineering Council (EC) licensed Professional Engineering Institutions (PEI) (which have agreed to participate) has increased steadily in the ten years since PCE UAE was founded effective 1996 01 01. Membership now exceeds 1500 of which 1000 are in merely five of the 35 Institutions licensed by EC. Over these ten years the number of ICE members in the country here has increased from 262 to 546 (+ 108%) with increases in other PEI.

Regarding new EC Registrants, in 2007 we will have seen arrangements completed by Committee members and others for over 30 potential Chartered Engineers of various nationalities to undertake their Professional Review Interview in the country. That total includes 14 ICE, 5 IMechE and 6 IET and 2 IChemE,plus others including IStructE and CIWEM

The Professional Review Preparation (PRP) group of younger members with occasional support and participation of experiences Chartered Members has contioned to meet on the last Tuesday of each month at Jaziah Hotel, Ghantout on the Abu Dhabi-Dubai border. Participants have exceeded ten from up to 5 different PEI disciplines, Others are welcome to attend as are experienced and potential volunteer interviewers and mentors. However intending participants should contact the HonSEc to check if the meeting 'is on'- despite being provided for in the Programme as any follow-up meeting is confirmed by those attending the previous meeting.'.

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823P70428PCEUAE(NL2007No3)                                                                                                                                                      web site:   www.pceuae.net.

PCE       PROFESSIONAL   CHARTERED   ENGINEERS            NEWSLETTER 2007 No 3

UAE            UNITED ARAB EMIRATES GROUP (PCE-UAE)  

PCE UAE welcomes all UAE based Chartered Engineers (CEng), Incorporated Engineers (IEng) and Engineering Technicians (EngT)

Registered with the Engineering Council (EC) plus all other members of the 35 EC Linked Professional Engineering Institutions (PEI)

We meet regularly on the first and second Tuesdays of each month in Abu Dhabi & in Dubai respectively.

Also, on the third Tuesday Site or works Visits may be arranged  plus other events subject to  members interest and support.

 

Dear Colleagues     

 

PCE UAE AIMS include – (Over recent years we have tried (possibly unsuccessfully) to meet them all:-

· To increase the status and representation of the Engineering Profession and to improve its contribution to the further development of the UAE.

· To promote and encourage the acquisition of knowledge relevant to the Engineering Profession and to establish friendly exchange between members.

· To arrange meetings for the reading and discussion of papers and visits of engineering interest and 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) and the Sponsoring Institutions and to promote the Sponsoring Institutions locally

PCE UAE was Formed effective 1996 01 01 by dissolving & merging into PCE UAE  branches & members iof  UK based multi-discipline Professional Engineering Institutions (PEI) for some of which I act as UAE Country Representative eg 

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE Founded 1818 with a Branch in this area in 1969), 

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE founded 1847 with a branch in UAE 1993) as well as 

The Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET/IEE founded 1871 formed UAE Branch 1996, dissolved 1997 to join PCE UAE

These are only 3 of the 35 PCE UAE PEI linked to the UK Engineering Council (EC)  Total potential membership is estimated at 1500 of which ICE has about 500, IET 300, IMechE 150 and IChemE 100 plus Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) 100.  

 

PROGRAMME, WEB  & NOTICES  The Aims and the statement in the heading above  still hold good. 

1) We issued a draft PROGRAMME 2007 in January as a framework for events each month of the year. 

2) We have supplemented that by initiating web pages at www.pceuae.net. 

3) Members are invited to contact the PCE UAE HonSec if they do not wish to attend meetings to meet, network and support colleagues unless they have a NOTICE with specific details.   We aim to provide for our multi-discipline membership

 

March – Our basic aims were more than met in March when Dr David Hall gave presentations on The UAE Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) and The Centre for Excellence in Research & Technology (CERT) and kindly arranged site visits to the HCT Men’s Colleges in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai.  We rounded the month off by the Professional Review Preparation (PRP) meeting at Ghantout which was supported by some experienced Chartered Engineers willing to give of their time for Younger aspiring Engineering Council Registrants.   In all participants exceeded 50

 

April – This month we had very interesting presentations by Dr Sameh Mansour, a consultant with the Projects Division of UAE Defence forces.  He described a case study involving physical and mathematical modelling / simulation to solve an intake siltation problem at a key Power Station on the River Nile near Cairo involving dredging.  Thanks to David Stones, our ProgSec we had a related site visit on the 17^th to new developments involving dredging and reclamation for the REEM Island development planned for 200 000 inhabitants.  Some have bought properties there – off plan!

 

May – The month has four Tuesdays and ‘The best laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft aglae’.  So said Robert Burns. 

However, we look forward to DipIng Andreas Bayerlein addressing members in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to be followed by a related site visit at RAHA Gardens development on Tuesday 15^th.  At the meeting at Ghantout last Tuesday 24^th the ten participants agreed to meet again on Tuesday 2007 05 29 and welcome others.  Those attending from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah covered at least five engineering disciplines and were from as many countries including Lebanon, India, Iraq, Egypt and UK.  We thank the CEng Members who attended to support those preparing for Chartered Professional Review (CPR).

 

Where the plans went ‘aglae’ was that on the 22^nd we heard that our UK based prospective speaker for a key event with dinner scheduled for Ghantout Thursday 2007 05 31 had to ‘take a rain check’.  However we plan to have an alternative speaker and at the same time bid farewell to David Shaw our long serving Honorary Treasurer and his wife Val who are returning to UK, having supported many PCE UAE events over the years.  Members, families and friends are invited to join us that evening. 

 

June and beyond – Changes to the original draft PROGRAMME in terms of specific topics and speakers have had to be made as anticipated.  PCE UAE Members are asked to come along to meetings and bring colleagues – especially UAE National graduates.   We arrange back up audio-visual material bearing in mind that Committee and Speakers are volunteers with business and family commitments often requiring them to be called out of the UAE at short notice.  For this reason and many others we do not always plan to issue NOTICES of events.  Check PROGRAMME, web,  with HonSec etc or just attend. 

 

NOTICES – Despite these options we have on the 25^th of April received an e-mail from one of our UK based linked PEI stating ‘’Following feedback from several members, I was wondering – is it at all possible to issue the PCE UAE notices slightly earlier in the month?  Several members are concerned that they miss the first few meetings of the month owing to the timing of the notices being distributed.’  I have checked with our PCE UAE HonSec and ProgSec and neither they nor I have recent comments from ‘several’ dissatisfied members.   NOTICES were drafted for May and June.  These are attached.

 

However, we have asked the UK to let us have the names and contact details as such individuals may well be the very ones we constantly seek to fill vacancies on Committee.  Indeed, at the AGM ALL posts were declared vacant for nominations and voting where necessary and we had – nor indeed have had since – any such volunteers.  Now, with the HonTreas leaving and Yours truly aiming to go asap please consider volunteering to support PCE UAE.  We did cut frequency of PCE UAE Committee Meetings so that busy members could attend normal meetings and support younger members for CPD, CPR etc. 

In this context I recollect receiving a complaint about late delivery of the first NEWSLETTER.  It was from the Chartered Engineer Director/GM of a British linked consultancy.  I apologised being responsible, but to this day more than 12 years later I am not aware that that individual attended any PCE UAE event far less offered to give what could have been an interesting presentation based merely on his experience!.  However, since then I  have  (with no remit) typed out all NEWSLETTERS and NOTICES when information was available.  Professional Chartered Engineers and others deserve better.  Cheers, Alister

Er  Alister I M Macmillan, Chair PCE UAE                                                                                        Abu Dhabi 2007 04 28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PCE UAE COMMITTEE CONTACTS   (These and other committee members aim to represent all PEI disciplines)

PCE UAE HonSec,                 Er Rod J Chisholm BSc, MSc(Eng), CEng, FICE, FIStructE,    050-458 1619                 chisholm@arencoar.com

PCE UAE MemSec   Er Gwilym Heycock,BSc(Hons), CEng, FIEE, MinstMC           050-442 4068                gwilym@set-uae.com

PCE UAE ProgSec,  EurIng David L Stones, BE(Hons),CEng,MICE,MIHT,MCIWEM   050-641 1950                stonesdl@emirates.net.ae

PCE UAE V-Chair D DrEr Roger Brooks PhD, MSc, CEng, FIChemE                                      050-668 1364                  roger.brooks@cegelec.com

PCE UAE Chair                ErAlister I M Macmillan,BSc,CEng,FIMC FICE,FIMechE,FIET  050-445 1879                macmilan@eim.ae

 

PRP - PROFESSIONAL REVIEW PREPARATION (PRP)

As scheduled on the PROGRAMME 2007 this meeting on Tuesday 2007 03 27 will take place subject to demand by members attending the PRP meeting on Tuesday 2007 02 27 when the topic will include review of written assignments selected by those who  attended the PRP Meeting at Ghantout on Tuesday 2007 01 30.  Senior and recently qualified EC Registrants are invited to attend and offer their experience to younger members by volunteering as mentors, reviewers and Interviewers. .

 

PRP- PROFESSIONAL REVIEW PREPARATION (PRP) & YOUNGER MEMBERS CONTACTS

PRP CO-OD  Bushra Hussain BEng((Hons),CEng,MICE, MCIWEM, Sr  Maritime Engr,  050-4505182  bushra_hussain@hotmail.com

PRP ASST                  Mohammed Hamed BSc((Civil Engg) Construction Mgr, Al Futtaim Carillion   050-5536928  mhammad@afcdfc.ae

PRP ASST                  Khaled R Z Al Shehhi BEng(Hons) CompEngg, System Administrator, Etisalat  050-732 2732   Alshehhi@acm.org

PRP ASST                 Lisa Lamont MSc, MIMechE Asst Professor, Petroleum Institute, Abu Dhabi 050-508 5100  llamont:@pi.ac.ae

PRP ASST               Ihab Al Asadi, BSc. Eng/Graduate co-ordr, Hyder, Al Ain   050-693 8605   ihab.alasadi@hyderconsultancy.com