A TRAINING scheme in place for young engineers at Belco received a passing grade from representatives of two UK-based institutions here to ascertain whether the local firm is operating the programme to internationally accepted standards.

And the Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers will determine whether four Bermudian participants in the programme - Athanasius Smith, Derika Furbert, Nigel Burgess and Gerald Saltus - will achieve their chartered engineer designation in the coming weeks.

The island's sole supplier of electricity has long run a training curriculum for engineers but decided to partner with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the Institute of Mechanical Engineers approximately a decade ago, incorporating the standards set by the two respected bodies into the scheme.

"They are basically here to check that our systems and process are up to their standards, to international standards," explained Abayomi Carmichael, an electrical engineer at Belco.

"We maintain an accreditation with them that allows us to offer an accredited scheme such that graduates can ultimately follow through to become chartered engineers. It gives them global recognition as professional engineers as well as the ability to be registered locally as a professional engineer.

"One of the big benefits that we have with these institutions from the UK is that they don't have a residency requirement for our graduate engineers.

"Most places in the United States and Canada would require them to go and live and work there for a certain period of time and that's obviously not necessarily practical for us. With this accreditation it allows us to be remote and at the same time get our qualifications."

Louise Dolan, a professional development and accreditation advisor with the IET, was one of a team of experts who travelled to the island to ensure that the Belco programme was up to speed.

"Part of my work really is working with a panel, coming in and looking at companies regarding their professional development schemes," she said.

"We take an holistic approach, but we really look for a set of criteria that the company needs to meet, to show that they're meeting the standard for the accreditation. We have 150,000 members (from) 128 countries so it's quite extensive - I think we're the largest engineering institution in Europe and I think it's a good co-operative to join but obviously we want to encourage international participation as well."

Specific attention is paid to several factors including quality assurance and recruitment policies in place, with companies required to demonstrate the standard of each, she added.

"It does actually show the candidates, the management and the institution that they have a structured development programme that will lead to chartered status or indeed IEng (Incorporated Engineer) or EngTech (Engineering Technician) status as well."

The majority of companies accredited by IET are based in Europe, Ms Dolan said. Twenty eight have been examined this year, although that number is expected to have increased by the end of 2008.

"Mostly I'm UK-based although I'm doing accreditation for ADCO (the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations) in Abu Dhabi at the end of November, which will be very interesting," she said. "Looking at 2007 to date, there are say, 28 companies that have been accredited with us so far - eight new accreditations plus 20 re-accreditations. That takes us to a total of 44 companies accredited in 2007 in the UK and we have a couple that are international companies as well. So we're quite busy. In 2008 we're looking for 44 re-accreditations and potentially 14 new companies coming on to be accredited with the institution."

Belco was last accredited in 2004. Each accreditation lasts for a three-year period. If a company is unsuccessful, it must wait three years before it can reapply.

"Previously it was five years, but we were finding five years was far too long," the IET advisor stated. "Companies are very dynamic and there's a lot of changes within that period so we actually tightened it to a three-year period. The most important part for us really, is meeting the candidates and meeting the mentors as well because, for us, that's the evidence of the scheme in operation."

Each member of the accrediting panel is selected because of the expertise they bring to the table. According to Ms Dolan, that expertise is made available to Belco in a session designed so participating companies can ask any necessary questions.

"It's a very two-way communication process," she said. "The panel members have been chosen because they have appreciation in a particular area of operations so I think they're quite well-placed to answer any questions and give advice."

Mr. Carmichael said the partnership is a good one for Belco and also the island's engineers.

"We had our own graduate training programmes but it was about ten years ago that we started to officially try to get it done to an international standard," he explained. "There had always been formal and some informal in-house training for engineers, but obviously the more you can get internationally-recognised certifications the better off your programmes are.

"Obviously it's very important for Belco to maintain these types of accreditations for our young people but I should add that it's also something that applies to the wider community as well.

"It's not just a Belco thing - as a representative of the IET, I offer my services and my time to any engineers on the island whether they're at the education stage or if they've completed their education and they need to know what to do next. We basically provide that service to the island." Approximately 16 Bermudians have benefited from the chartered engineer programme in the last decade, he added.

"We're quite proud of that. Some have left Belco and gone on to other things, but I think the majority are still here at Belco." Ms Dolan said such feats are equally as important for her organisation, which devotes as much of its energies to Belco as it does its member companies in the UK.

"Obviously we're in the business of accrediting and we want to support not only Belco but Bermuda as well. Belco is the (sole distributor of electricity) here and so it's in our interest to support (Belco) as it supports its community and the engineers coming through not just in achieving the chartered status, but in-house training and getting them to be professional engineers whatever route they take.

"Certainly it's very important to us to be an inclusive institution regardless of whether these companies are remote or not, to give them the same access and the same support as other companies do have in the UK although obviously there are those little hurdles that you have to get over," she said referring to overseas participants' inability to be present for classes offered onsite by IET.

However the Internet is making distance seem less of a problem. According to Ms Dolan, a new learning tool called IET TV, allows participants to access the latest lectures and relevant information online.

"They can download lectures and seminars," she said. "And they can actually participate as well, they can type in their questions and they can be answered on the day. So it's just making the various tools available and updating them and getting them up to speed on what's going on in the institution.

"Career manager is quite an interesting tool we've got, a development tool for a candidate to use online. So although they don't have direct access with the institution, they still have access to all the support tools and mechanisms. And this will help the IET candidates keep a track record of their competencies as they're going through into accreditation. It's also a professional development tool as well. So there are resources available to them. Even though (Belco participants are) remote, we wouldn't want them to feel isolated from the IET community."

Keeping "remote" participants from feeling excluded is one of IET's main goals, the advisor added.

"We're a knowledge network reaching the wider community on an international scale and obviously Belco is part of that. I think actually coming here on a visit and meeting face to face is still very important, but ongoing from that, all these tools are available.

"They're part of the network and part of the engineering community which doesn't have those particular boundaries but they can do these things online and we try and get them involved in what we're doing and keep the communication going."

Training programmes and discussions about new and ongoing developments within the two institutions also formed part of the visit, Mr. Carmichael said describing it as a worthy company investment.

"It's prudent on our part to really look for international recognised designations for our people," he explained. "The world is a global village now. Employers and insurers and government always look for certification and we had to find a way to get internationally recognised certifications for our staff."

Ms Dolan agreed: "I think it's becoming more and more important to have that benchmark and qualification that's internationally recognised. If you're doing contract work the first thing the contractor's going to look at is how many CEngs (chartered engineers) do you have on your books? They will want to know who the people are that they're working with, how professional are they? And one way to show that is to have chartered status. But as I mentioned, we're also looking holistically, with the goal being the whole company. So we're looking at companies who perhaps find it difficult to recruit to help them grow their own engineering population and this provides a pathway through and it helps with retention as well."