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UNITE AND PROSPER

24th August 2000, Page 22
24th August 2000
Page 22
Page 22, 24th August 2000 — UNITE AND PROSPER
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

nomilliiā– mairom I have known John DicksonSimpson for a good many years and have nothing but the sincerest regard for him as a journalist, engineer and road transport enthusiast. In his recent letter though, John seems to have wandered away from reality back to the forties and fifties when the IRTE was formed.

As the IRTE is currently a member of the Engineering Council its present corporate grades are geared to general engineering academic qualifications. Were this not so then I imagine the hundreds of employers who recruit on the basis of IRTE membership might have something to say. As the joint prospectus issued by IRTF and IpiantE advocating the merger to form the Society of Operations Engineers laid great store by its intention to offer registration at all three Engineering Council grades I cannot see this situation changing particularly.

Additionally, the situation regarding the training of engineers has changed from the '40s and Us. In those days the apprenticeship with day release and evening classes was the norm; nowadays the majority of young people go on to university or other full-time education. Not surprisingly those who are engineers and who go on to obtain their degrees or diplomas want to aspire to the top jobs in our industry and the SCE gives them the broadest base from which to achieve this. Indeed Philip Corp's article underlined the very egalitarian basis of parity of esteem regardless of grade on which the new Society is built and on which it prides itself.

It should also be borne in mind that, rather than be swamped by an institution and engineers of a foreign culture, IRTF members make up nearly 75% of the new SOE strength. In these circumstances it is not an exercise in guarding against the "demolition of the IRTE culture" as John puts it, but rather to prove that, as road transport engineers we can be generous enough to welcome engineers from other spheres into our ways. After all, whether we like it or not, engineering and our industry have moved on from the forties and fifties and from the start of the IRTE. The formation of the SCE is an attempt to come to terms with those realities and above all to help the young engineers in our industry to prosper.

David Cox, Atherstone, Warwickshire.


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