As mentioned in our first newsletter at the end of last year, 2021 will be our first full year as a section that is engaged in the development of Chartership within KIVI. As a section, we are therefore busy with, among other things, preparing training courses for mentors, reviewers and assessors. The first courses are expected to take place in spring. We are also continuing to improve our Chartership process, for example through a two-weekly consultation hour where you can ask questions about anything related to KIVI chartership, and through the initiation of a Chartership Committee and a Complaints Committee.

Furthermore, to help us focus our activities, we would like to know what you expect from us as a section. We have a small survey with five questions set up. I hope you can find some time to answer these questions and help us along. I expect it will take you 2 minutes at most. For example, we would like to know in which area you would like to see webinars (assuming COVID-19 still prevents physical meetings for some time to come) or other activities from us. Of course we have ideas about this ourselves, but we are very open to suggestions. To lift a tip of the veil, we are considering Teams sessions with experienced Incorporated Engineers, Chartered Engineers or even Fellow Chartered engineers to share their (international) chartership experiences. We are curious about any other ideas your might have, so would appreciate it if you could share them with us, either through the survey, or by just contacting us at any time. We are here for you.

A newsletter should be short! Yet as a section we have a lot to say. That is why you will find some items below that we would like to share with you. Through the links you can read more online.

After a good start, I am looking forward to the rest of 2021, and hope to see you (online at first, hopefully in person later in the year) at KIVI!
 
Sincerely,
 

Dr. ir. Eelco Schrik CEng
Chairman of the KIVI department of Chartered Engineering

KIVI Chartered Engineering will start with a two-weekly TEAMS walk-in consultation hour starting from 5 March 11:00-12:00h. Andries Ritsema from the KIVI office will participate in the TEAMS session as the central contact person to whom you can ask all your questions related to chartership at KIVI. Read moreFor example questions related to the 5 main chartership competences, the structure of your portfolio, the structure of the OPD, or more open questions like what chartership is about, what it might bring you and how and when to start with your portfolio. He will forward questions that he cannot answer immediately to the right person within KIVI, after which you will receive an answer via e-mail, a phone call, or perhaps an online conversation with a mentor.

You do not have to register for this consultation hour, feel fee to join in and connect.

If you have a personal question that is not suitable for discussion in an open session, you can of course also contact Andries Ritsema via telephone number 070 - 3 919 881 or via e-mail chartered@kivi.nl. Even for confidential questions, you can contact Andries and state that you have a confidential question without having to go into the confidential details. Andries will make sure that the people you will talk to next will have signed (like Andries himself) the KIVI chartership confidentiality agreement. The KIVI chartership structure relies on trust.

This walk-in consultation hour is also a great time to meet fellow candidate members. Perhaps you can even work together with another candidate and help each other along to complete your portfolio?  

We are regularly asked questions on how to build the chartership portfolio, whether everything is correct, whether you are on the right path as a candidate, etc. Let us very briefly explain the procedure and indicate where KIVI can help you. Note that the procedure can be done either in Dutch or English, whichever you prefer.

First of all, you need to register yourself in the KIVI OPD tool. Through the OPD tool you can then register as a candidate chartered / incorporated engineer. Subsequently, after checking your registration against the minimum access requirements for chartership, KIVI will enable a separate entrance to the OPD, the “My Portfolio” environment. The Portfolio environment contains 18 questions clearly structured according to the chartership competence structure (as defined in the ‘NL-SPEC’). These questions are for you to answer, where possible, supported by evidence that you can upload. You can find out how to answer these questions in the Candidate Guidelines. If you are underway, and would like some feedback if you are on the right track, it is possible to submit (simply through the OPD menu) a preliminary version of your portfolio for checking by KIVI and receive some helpful feedback.

If you encounter problems or questions anywhere in this process, please do not hesitate to contact Andries, chartered@kivi.nl.  He will either answer your question himself or have it answered. If the answer does not really answer your question and/or if you just need more guidance, Andries can link you to a mentor.

When your portfolio is ready, you can simply apply for chartership through the menu in the OPD. Andries will then download your portfolio (this is the only time he can access your data) and send it for formal review. If the portfolio is assessed positively, you will be informed and Andries will schedule a Professional Review Interview (PRI). This is a 90 minute interview with two assessors (Chartered or Incorporated engineers, or university professors, of whom at least one is fully competent in your field of expertise) supported by a host (usually Andries). In COVID times, the interview takes place online. For the interview you are asked to give a 10-minute presentation, after which the committee will ask questions about your presentation and your portfolio. After the PRI, you will be informed whether you have passed no longer than four weeks later.

We regularly receive questions about Continuing Professional Development (CPD), the process that you have to follow after you have become a Chartered or Incorporated Engineer. CPD is aimed at keeping the Chartered or Incorporated Engineer’s focus on their professional development throughout their career. Being an Incorporated or Chartered Engineer shows to the outside world that you are actively participating in your field of expertise and developing as an engineer along the chartership competence structure over the long term and in a wider context than a specific job role. This is why every 2 years you have to register 100 CPD hours in the OPD tool, in order to keep your Incorporated or Chartered Engineer registration. In practice, anyone who has passed the PRI and has become a Chartered or Incorporated Engineer already has a fitting professional attitude such that meeting the CPD requirements more or less comes naturally and requires hardly any special effort.

CPD activities are designed to extend or update knowledge, skills or judgment in area (s) of practice, and should enable a Chartered Engineer to:
• Maintain technical competence at a high standard.
• Retain and enhance effectiveness in the workplace.
• Be able to help, influence and lead others by example.
• Successfully deal with changes in their career.
• Better serve the community.

KIVI has guidelines for CPD, but due to the amount of questions we have received, the KIVI Chartered Engineering section will provide, in the course of 2021, clear examples on charteredengineer.nl  of what you can use as CPD, and how to enter this in the OPD tool. We will keep you updated through this newsletter.

In order to improve our Chartership process, and to continue to meet international standards for Chartership, KIVI needs to initiate an Chartership committee and a complaints committee for the KIVI Chartership. We are looking for volunteers to take part in these committees. Can we rely on your help? If you are interested, please contact Andries Ritsema.

We need 5 volunteers for the Chartership committee. This committee will meet several times per year to give the final approval in the PRI process. For each candidate, the committee will briefly review the portfolio, check the summary report of the PRI committee, and reach agreement on whether or not to give the final approval. In case there are any issues with a specific application, the examination committee may advise which measures have to be taken. In case the same issue occurs more than once, the examination committee may advise how to prevent this from happening again. The committee needs 5 members, in order to make sure that at least 3 members are present every time the committee meets.

We need 3 volunteers for the complaints committee. This committee will address any complaints that are filed with KIVI in relation to chartership.