Date: May 16, 2022

Some time back, I applied for and achieved the Chartered Engineer (CEng) title, through the British Computer Society (BCS), awarded by the Engineering Council. Now I'm pursuing the Hong Kong's equivalent: Member of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (MHKIE).

During my CEng process, the requirements to become licensed or registered through The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) were not very clear. Yet by the time I got CEng, HKIE changed to, or should I say adopted, a competence standard for registration, effective April 1, 2019.

Since I already got the CEng title and I live in Hong Kong, getting the MHKIE title is pretty obvious.

The requirements for MHKIE are documented in the M3 Routes to Membership on the HKIE membership download page. This document covers both academic and professional requirements. The key part is the document's Appendix A, listing the competences required for registration.

HKIE Competence Standard for Professional Engineers, described in Appendix A, is practically equivalent to the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC). This was great news since I already got CEng.

The major areas of the HKIE Competence Standard include:

• Applying engineering knowledge
• Developing technical solutions
• Managing engineering work
• Up-keeping professional acumen

There are 5 major steps:

1. Application submission & application fee payment
2. Assessor initial review
3. Professional assessment (PA) (interview with memo or essay writing)
4. Decision from the Panel
5. Registration with HKIE if successful

Prior to your application, you need to know what route of assessment you are following. These are listed in the application form. Some of these routes are:

• Formal training
• General experience
• Reciprocal

Furthermore, you need to know which discipline you are in. These too are listed in the application form; to name a few: civil, electrical, information, mechanical, etc.

The application has the following but not limited to:

• Application form with organization chart
• CV
• Training & experience statement
• Record of continuing professional development (CPD)
• Copy of academic qualification(s)

All documents require supporter's verifying initials.

HKIE application requires 4 supporters, who must all be MHKIE themselves. One of these must be a Fellow (FHKIE) and 2 of these must be from the same discipline. For reciprocal route, only 2 supporters from the same discipline are required. One of these supporters need to verify your application form. You may need to find supporters outside of your company, especially if you are not following the formal training route. Regarding finding supporters, especially outside your company, it is best to find people who are/were popular or well-known within the HKIE community.

The training & experience statement is for you to describe how you meet the requirements set out in the HKIE Competence Standard.

Once the application is submitted and paid, the assessment has 3 stages:

1. Initial review of application (CV review and peer assessment)
2. Detail review of application (assessment of knowledge and experience)
3. Interview with memo or essay writing

Given I already got CEng, I followed the reciprocal route. If I didn't, I would have followed the general experience route. The HKIE discipline for me is information.

Yet I still had to prepare, namely the training & experience statement, which took me about a month or so. Then finding or getting MHKIE supporters to verify, fine-tuning the necessary details.

Under the reciprocal route, the interview (stage 3) is normally not needed. However, in some circumstances, HKIE may suggest to conduct an interview for formality sake.

The exact dates of my MHKIE application process were as follow:

The application process through the reciprocal route was not clearly documented in the "M3 Routes to Membership" nor the application form. For example, who would have thought the parent institution's membership certificate is needed, given the CEng registration certificate has such information.

Another aspect was the waiting time. I didn't know what HKIE needed to do but it shouldn't take over 3 months to find out documents are missing and consent is needed. Since I followed the reciprocal route, I understand HKIE needs to communicate with parent institution BCS, yet I believe there is some kind of service level in exchanging information. However, my experience told me differently.