International Engineering Alliance publishes approved revised Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework (GAPC), supported by UNESCO and WFEO


 
The International Engineering Alliance has published the approved revised Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies (GAPC) Framework which is proudly supported by UNESCO and WFEO.

The publication of the revised Framework with the acknowledgement of support from UNESCO and WFEO is a significant and important outcome for WFEO, its members and its partners. It ensures that the GAPC Framework is the pre-eminent international benchmark for engineering education and professional competencies.

The publication of the Framework is the culmination of work that began at WFEO 50th anniversary celebrations in March 2018 with the joint declaration signed by WFEO by Immediate Past president Dr Marlene Kanga and UNESCO on the shared commitment to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals through engineering. It addresses one of the pillars of this declaration – to ensure that the world has engineers with the right skills for sustainable development. This is also a significant achievement of the WFEO Engineering 2030 Plan that was also declared in March 2018 and also achieves a key recommendation of the Second UNESCO Engineering Report.

The implementation of this Framework will result in a transformation of the engineering profession, with graduates who are critical thinkers, thoughtful about the impact and outcomes of their work, capable of working in diverse and inclusive teams and are committed to lifelong learning.

The publication of the Framework is the result of the work of the working group that brought together UNESCO, IEA signatories, WFEO members and WFEO partners. During the consultation phase for the proposed Framework, WFEO engaged with its members `and partners representing academics (IFEES), industry (FIDIC) and women (INWES) between 2019 and 2021. The results of the consultation are available in this page.

The published GAPC Framework is available in this page.

The website of the International Engineering Alliance acknowledges the support and collaboration of WFEO:

WFEO also continues to collaborate with its members and IEA signatories through a second working group, for capacity building, to bring more WFEO members to the standards required to become a signatory of the IEA, through the WFEO Committee on Engineering Education. This is also an essential pillar of the WFEO Engineering 2030 Plan.

 

Announcement of approval by International Engineering Alliance of the revised Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework (GAPC), developed in consultation with UNESCO, WFEO and its members and partners, during 2019-2021

 
The signatories of the International Engineering Alliance Accords and Agreements approved the revised Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies (GAPC) Framework at its annual meeting on Monday 21 June 2021.

This outcome is of great importance to engineers as it includes the need to change engineering and for engineers to be aware of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and advancing these through their work. This is the most significant change to the Framework since it was first developed in the early 1990s. The implementation of this Framework will result in a transformation of the engineering profession, with graduates who are critical thinkers, thoughtful about the impact and outcomes of their work, capable of working in diverse and inclusive teams and are committed to lifelong learning.

This decision is the culmination of a joint UNESCO-WFEO-IEA project that started in July 2018 with an initial presentation by Immediate Past president Dr Marlene Kanga at the IEA Annual meeting in London. The IEA Governing Group and Signatories accepted the proposal and agreed to move forward. This resulted in a further presentation in Hong Kong in July 2019, attended by the President Gong Ke, (then President Elect), President of FAEO, Mr Martin manuwha, President of FEIAP, Mr. John Li, the then Chair of the WFEO Capacity Building Committee, Prof Yashin Brijmohan, Prof Wu Qidi, Director of the International Centre for Engineering Education (ICEE), a WFEO Partner. WFEO President Elect Prof Jose Vieira (then President of FEANI), was invited but unable to attend.

A Declaration was signed by UNESCO WFEO and IEA to work together at WEC 2019 and the MoU with the IEA was renewed for a further four years to 2023. A working group was established that brought together UNESCO, IEA signatories, WFEO members and WFEO partners. During the consultation phase for the proposed Framework, WFEO engaged with its members and partners representing academics (IFEES), industry (FIDIC) and women (INWES). It’s been a journey, especially since much of it was accomplished entirely virtually. The results of the consultation are available in this link.

Following approval, further work is expected on guidance and support for implementation. WFEO also continues to collaborate with its members and IEA signatories through a second working group, for capacity building to bring more WFEO members to the standards required to become a signatory of the IEA, through the WFEO Committee on Engineering Education.

The presentation by Immediate Past President Dr Marlene Kanga who led this project on behalf of WFEO, on the work done between July 2019 and June 2021, is available in this link.

The approved GAPC Framework is available in this link.


WFEO President Gong Ke addresses the IEA Governing Group, 21 June 2021


Presentation to the IEA Plenary Closing Session showing top row from left: 2nd WFEO Immediate Past President Dr Marlene Kanga, 4th, IEA Chair of Governing Group Mr Damien Owens, 5th Washington Accord Chair Em. Prof Elizabeth Taylor, 2nd row left WFEO President Gong Ke, 3rd row extreme right, Chair of UNESCO WFEO IEA Working Group for Review of GAPC, Prof Bulent Ozguler


Meeting with the IEA Governing Group including Chair Mr Damien Owens, Em. Prof Elizabeth Taylor, Chair of the Washington Accord, WFEO President Gong Ke and WFEO Immediate Past President Dr Marlene Kanga

 

Consultation with WFEO Members and Partners

 
UNESCO and the World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) recognise the International Engineering Alliance (IEA) Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework (GAPC) as a valuable international benchmark for engineering education.

A UNESCO WFEO IEA Working Group was established in November 2019 following the renewal of the WFEO-IEA MoU and the Declaration on Engineering Education that was made in Melbourne at WEC2019. The goal was to review the current IEA Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework to ensure that they reflect contemporary values and employer needs as well as equip engineers/technologist/technicians of the future to incorporate the practices that advance the UN Sustainable Goals.

Members of the working group are:

IEA working group members

  • Prof A. Bulent Ozguler (MUDEK) (Chair), Turkey
  • Prof Mitsunori Makino and Ms Akiko Takahashi (JABEE), Japan
  • Prof Barry Clarke (ECUK), UK
  • Ms Bernadette Foley (Engineers Australia), Australia

WFEO working group members

  • Dr Marlene Kanga – WFEO President, 2017-2019, Australia
  • Mr WANG Sunyu (Vice Director General, ICEE Tsinghua University), China
  • Dr Charlie Than, (President, Myanmar Engg. Council), Myanmar
  • Dr Michael Milligan (ABET) – representing IFEES, USA
  • Mr KANG Jincheng, Strategic Specialist, ICEE, China
  • Mr QIAO Weifeng, Asst Professor Inst. Of Education Tsinghua University and ICEE, China
  • Mr XU Lihui, Research Associate, Inst. Of Education Tsinghua University and ICEE, China

The goal of the Working Group is to review the IEA GAPC Framework jointly with WFEO under the auspices of UNESCO.

A report on the work done by the Working Group since November 2019, including references to the research and summary of the responses to the questionnaire sent to IEA signatories is available in this page.

Proposed changes to the IEA Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework are available in this page (Word document).

The main changes cover the areas identified in preliminary research and a survey of IEA Signatories during December 2019 and January 2020. The six main areas identified were:

  1. Accommodate future needs of engineering professionals and the profession – strengthen the required attributes on team work, communication, ethics, sustainability.
  2. Emerging technologies – incorporate digital learning, active work experience, lifelong learning.
  3. Emerging and future engineering disciplines and practice areas – while retaining discipline independent approach, enhance the skills on data sciences, other sciences, life-long learning.
  4. Incorporate UN Sustainable Goals – in the development of solutions that consider diverse impacts – technical, environment, social, cultural, economic, financial and global responsibility.
  5. Diversity and Inclusion – include these considerations within ways of working in teams, communication, compliance, environment, legal etc. systems.
  6. Intellectual agility, creativity and innovation – emphasize critical thinking and innovative processes in design and development of solutions.

The resulting draft review of the IEA/WFEO Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework, done since November 2019, is now available for consultation.
 

 

Consultation with WFEO Members and Partners

A Webinar that explained the structure of the proposed benchmark and key areas of interest to WFEO members was held on Saturday 18th July 2020.

 

Moderator: Prof. Gong Ke, President, World Federation of Engineering Organisations
Speakers:

  1. Prof. A. Bülent Özgüler, Chair WFEO-IEA Working Group, MUDEK (Turkey) – Summary of work done to date and key areas of change (see the presentation)
  2. Dr Marlene Kanga WFEO Past President – Overview of the Framework and proposed changes to Graduate Attributes (Table 4) of the Framework (see the presentation)
  3. Mr Kang Jincheng (Strategic Specialist, ICEE Tsinghua University) – Proposed changes to Knowledge and Attitude Profile (Table 3 ) of the framework. (see the presentation)
  4. Dr Charlie Than, (President, Myanmar Engg. Council, Myanmar), Proposed changes to Professional Competencies (Table 5) of the Framework (see the presentation)
  5. Dr Michael Milligan (CEO, ABET USA) – representing International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES), Diversity and Inclusion incorporated in the Framework (see the presentation)

The recording of the webinar is available in this page.

The Questions & Answers from the webinar are available in this page (Excel file).

Updates on the project are available on this page.

 

 

Re-setting the Benchmarks for Engineering Graduates with the Right Skills for Sustainable Development

A Webinar on the GAPC Framework hosted by IFEES on 15th July 2020.


Moderator: Prof. Krishna Vedula, IFEES
Speaker: Dr Marlene Kanga WFEO Past President – Overview of the Framework and proposed changes to Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework

The recording of the webinar is available in this page.

The presentation “Re-setting the benchmarks for engineering education for sustainable development” by WFEO Past President Dr. Marlene Kanga is available in this page.
 

 

A Webinar on Diversity and Inclusion with WFEO Committee for Women in Engineering and International Network for Women Engineers and Scientists (INWES) to discuss diversity and inclusion and other important changes with women engineers was held on 31 July 2020 at 1.00pm – 2.30pm Paris CET

.

Moderator: Prof Gong Ke, President, World Federation of Engineering Organisations

Speakers:

  1. Ms Peggy Oti-Boateng, UNESCO, Importance of engineering skills and greater diversity for the SDGs (see the presentation)
  2. Ms Gail Mattson, President INWES, The importance of diversity and inclusion in engineering education and practice (see the presentation)
  3. Prof Bulent Ozguler, Chair UNESCO-WFEO-IEA Working Group on review of benchmark, MUDEK, Turkey, The review process to date and the changes made (see the presentation)
  4. Dr Marlene Kanga, Diversity and Inclusion on Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies (Tables 4 and 5 of the Framework) (see the presentation)
  5. Prof Wai Ye Leong, INWES Board Member and WFEO Committee for Women in Engineering – Changes to the GAPC Framework and implications for Diversity and Inclusion and Industry 4.0 (see the presentation)
  6. Prof. Dawn Bonfield, WFEO Committee for Women in Engineering, Diversity and Inclusion aspects in the GAPC Framework
  7. Ms. Yetunde Holloway, Chair WFEO Committee for Women in Engineering, Q&A / Closing remarks and next steps (see the presentation)

The recording of the webinar is available in this page.

The Questions & Answers from the webinar are available in this page.

 

 

A Webinar to discuss the impact of the proposed changes to graduate attributes and professional competencies with the Federation of International Consulting Organisations, a key group of employers of engineers was held on 4 February 2021. 12.00pm – 1.00pm Paris CET.

The webinar explained the key changes that have been made, especially the requirements for professional competencies and lifelong learning and was of particular interest to engineering employers who are interest in work ready engineering graduates who can meet the challenges of future technologies and changes in the way we work.

Moderator: Prof Gong Ke, WFEO President

Speakers:

  1. William Howard, International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) President
  2. Dr Marlene Kanga WFEO Past President – Overview of the Framework and proposed changes (see the presentation)
  3. Dr Charlie Than, (President, Myanmar Engg. Council, Myanmar), Proposed changes to Professional Competencies (Table 5) of the Framework (see the presentation)
  4. Stephane Giraud, Chair International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Capacity Building Committee, Overview of the new training and credentialing strategy of FIDIC as to Future Leaders, Contract Managers, Consulting Engineers, Trainers, DAABs (Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Boards) (see the presentation)
  5. Adam Bialachowski, Chair International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) Future Leaders Council, Keeping Engineering Education and Professional Development for contemporary and relevant for young engineers (see the presentation)

The recording of the webinar is available in this page.

The Questions & Answers from the webinar are available in this page.

 

 

WFEO Consultation

  1. The Draft Graduate Attributes and Professional Competencies Framework is available in this page (Word document).
  2. The form for comments is available in this page (Word document).
  3. A Survey on the Standard that enables you to provide overall feedback is available in this page.
  4. Recordings of webinars are:
    1. Presentation to IEA Annual meeting, Consultation with IEA Signatories, Prof. Bulent Ozguler, Chair UNESCO-WFEO-IEA Working Group on 22 June 2020, available in this page
    2. Webinar held on 15 July 2020, Consultation with IFEES, Dr Marlene Kanga, IFEES Webinar, available in this page
    3. Webinar held on 18 July 2020, Consultation with WFEO members, WFEO members of the UNESCO-WFEO-IEA Working Group, available in this page
    4. Webinar held on 31 July 2020, Consultation with WFEO Committee for Women in Engineering and INWES available in this page
    5. Webinar held on 4 February 2021, Consultation with Federation of International Consulting Organisations (FIDIC) available “in this page
  5. Your Feedback
    Please send your feedback by 20 February 2021.
    Your comments will be collated for the WFEO-IEA Working Group.

    Thank you for in anticipation of your support and feedback.

 

For more information:

Results of the Consultation Process