Professional Ethics, Competence and Commercial Awareness - 2024 entry

Today’s energy professionals demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to society, to their profession, and to the environment. These principles are embedded in professional codes of conduct and mechanisms for self-regulation. Professional competence integrates knowledge, understanding, skills and values and is accrued through professional development. This module encourages understanding of these ideas and their need. 

 

Central to the practice of engineering is an overarching requirement for Health and Safety – mechanism by which safety and failure issues arise need to be understood, so that they can be mitigated and controlled right from the initial design stage, and then monitored, audited and re-controlled through the whole life of a project. 

 

In addition, the module aims to develop understanding of business practice and business governance, as it is through successful business that the engineering industry and profession advances.

 

The module focuses on the development of skills that are deemed engineering discipline specific under the UK Engineering Council’s UK-SPEC (UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence) documentation. This material has not been covered elsewhere in the M-level curriculum. A study of professionalism within the syllabus of UK university engineering degrees is highly recommended by the Engineering Council, the Royal Academy of Engineering and all engineering professional bodies.

 

The module encourages you to conduct reflective self-assessment of your professional development, close to the time of your graduation. It sets a benchmark onto which a career-long continuing professional development (CPD) plan can be formulated.

On successfully completing the module, you will be able to …

 

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge:

 

1 Justify, within an arena of engineering, what constitutes a sound professional ethical practice, and ability to appraise ethical and professional case studies. Appreciate the mechanisms for professional engineering governance (M8, M11);

2 Recognise and prioritise, for all engineering, the centrality of health and safety. Explore the science of risk assessment (including environmental risk) and how this is applied to health and safety control. Significantly appreciate the frameworks and legal requirements governing engineering health and safety (M9, M17);

3 Evaluate how business-accounting is employed as a powerful tool for measuring and improving the financial health of a companies and industries. Examine the key investment ratios, the management of commercial risks and cost-drivers. Explore the motivation and incentivising of work forces (M9, M14);

 

Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge:

 

4 Understand the UK’s governance of engineering. Engineering Council, Royal Academy of Engineering, Professional Bodies alongside a degree of international comparison. Assess values and benefit of engineering professional accreditation CEng, IEng, EngTech (M8, M18);

5 Appreciate codes of practice and industry standards (M8, M10, M14);

 

Personal and Key Transferable/ Employment Skills and Knowledge:

 

6 Establish associate/student membership (if not already) of one or more engineering professional bodies. For example - EI, IET, IMechE, CIBSE, IMarEST (M11, M18);

7 Market your skills, achievements, and qualifications. Build a personal portfolio, be creative in your abilities to communicate – via written, oral and online media. Form an engineering UK-SPEC (UK Standard of Professional Engineering Competences) within your portfolio (M17, M18).