During a recent meeting of the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) held in Alaska, the IEA confirmed and recognised ECSA‘s standards and processes for the Washington Accord for an additional six years.

The International Engineering Alliance is an international forum/body established to advance the benchmarking of educational standards and engineering competency standards. The primary aim of the IEA is to promote the recognition of substantial equivalence in engineering qualification (accords) and to promote and support engineering practitioners’ mobility (competency agreements) across signatory jurisdictions.

“This recognition of ECSA by the International Engineering Alliance is a remarkable milestone which reaffirms that ECSA conforms to global engineering education and competences standards. It is particularly encouraging to note that this recognition further enables ECSA registered persons to gain recognition of their qualifications in other IEA signatory countries, and this is after gaining similar recognition in 2016 for the International Professional Engineers Agreement (IPEA) for recognition of our International Professional Engineers across signatories of the IPEA,”, said Sipho Madonsela, Chief Executive Officer of ECSA.

South Africa is the only country in the African continent which is a member of the International Engineering Alliance. Through ECSA, South Africa has begun an initiative to assist other African countries with their recognition to the Accords and Agreements in its role as the Secretariat of the Southern African Federation of Engineering Organizations (SAFEO). This recognition provides ECSA with an opportunity to participate and positively contribute to an international platform of the engineering community by providing advice and guidance on policies, developments and innovative solutions on issues relating to engineering and technology.

As a statutory body, ECSA has a legislative mandate to regulate the engineering profession to advance the development of the professionals in South Africa through various strategic channels, including determining the acceptable standards for education and training of engineers, the accreditation of these educational programmes at various universities, and most importantly the management of the registration standards of engineering practitioners.

ECSA is encouraged by the confirmation of its standards and processes by the International Engineering Alliance for the Washington Accord education programmes, and will continue to manage the regulation of the South African engineering profession to ensure its global competence.