Engineer's degree

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For other degrees, see Academic degree

An engineer's degree is a graduate academic degree intermediate in rank between a master's degree and a doctoral degree in the United States. In Europe, it can be an approximately six year degree roughly equivalent to a master's degree.

The Engineer's degree in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom the highest award for non-postgraduate studies is the Master of Engineering (MEng), which is a four year course or a 'sandwich' five year course (with a year out working in industry in year 3). The Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) is usually a three year course, or can also include a year in industry. Many universities offer the MEng, and may then allow a transfer onto the BEng (this is because the MEng is the quickest route to chartership).

The Engineer's degree in the United States

In the United States, the bachelor's degree is the standard undergraduate degree awarded to engineering students and is generally the only degree required for licensure (that is, it is the first professional degree in the field). For graduate students, the master's degree is by far the most common route, which may be followed by the doctorate. The Degree of Engineer or Engineer's Degree is the least commonly obtained advanced degree in engineering. It is usually preceded by a master's degree and is not a prerequisite to a doctoral degree. It serves as a terminal degree for practicing engineers. The availability of degrees and the specific requirements differ considerably between institutions and between specialties within an institution. Officially, both undergraduate programs and graduate programs at the master's-level may receive ABET-accreditation, but ABET will only accredit a bachelor's or a master's degree at a given institution (not both). In practice, although undergraduate accreditation is common, master's-level accreditation is rare unless an undergraduate program is not available (for example, the Naval Postgraduate School).

In many other fields, the master's degree would naturally be followed by a traditional research doctorate (Ph.D.). But in this case, the engineer's degree provides an alternative that has been tailored for professionals rather than academicians. The distinction is similar to that between a Juris Doctor (J.D.) and a Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.). Some schools, Stanford and CalTech for example, require a thesis. But, the requirements are generally less than those of Ph.D. candidates and more comparable to those of most Master of Science students. Others, like Santa Clara University, do not have a specific research requirement. For this reason, many consider an engineer's degree to be on a level between a master's degree and a doctorate. Nonetheless, it is in fact a terminal degree, much like the Ed.S. degree in education.

In the past, it was not uncommon for a would-be engineer to earn an engineer's degree as their first and only college degree. But since World War II this has fallen out of favor, and it becomes continually more difficult to find a school that offers this option.

Note: A degree with some form of the word "engineer(ing)" in the title is not necessarily an engineer's degree in this sense. Particularly, a "Master of Engineering" (M.Eng.) or "Engineering Doctorate" (Eng. D) degree is not an Engineer's degree, nor is any other bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree. Rather, the engineer's degree is in a category of its own. For example, a student with a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering might next earn the degree Electrical Engineer. The person would then have a B.S. in E.E., a M.S. in E.E., and an E.E. degree. The former two are degrees in engineering, and only the latter degree is actually an Engineer's degree.

Common abbreviations of engineering disciplines (U.S. and Canada)

An abbreviation of the discipline is often used to represent an engineer's degree where one might typically use M.S. or Ph.D. Several are potentially ambiguous, especially P.E.

• Agricultural Engineer - Ag. E. or A.E.
• Biomedical Engineer - B.M.E.
• Chemical Engineer - Ch. E. or Chem. E.
• Petroleum Engineer - P.E.
• Building Engineer - B.E.
• Civil Engineer - C.E.
• Clinical Engineer - C.E.
• Computer Engineer - Cp. E.
• Electrical Engineer - E.E.
• Industrial Engineer - I.E.
• Structural Engineer - S.E
• Software Engineer - S.E. or S.W.E.
• Engineer in Aeronautics and Astronautics - E.A.A.
• Engineer in Computer Science - E.C.S.
• Engineer in Mechanics - E.M.
• Environmental Engineer - Env. E.
• General Engineer - G.E.
• Geological Engineer - G.E.
• Materials Engineer - Mat. E.
• Mechanical Engineer - Mech. E. or M.E.
• Mechatronic Engineer - M.T.E.
• Naval Engineer - Nav. E.
• Nuclear Engineer - Nucl. E.
• Ocean Engineer - Ocean. E.
• Systems Engineer - Sys. E.

Engineer's degrees in Europe

In countries with significant German influence on higher education, universities specializing in technical studies award their students an engineer's degree instead of a master's degree. In addition to Germany itself, this includes states like Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine. The degree of Engineer may be the first one received (after five years of study), or more often, it may follow a bachelor's degree (usually three years for the bachelor's plus two years for the engineer's).

In local language, the degree is called inżynier (Polish), inžinier (Slovak) or inženýr (Czech), the abbreviation is Ir. (Ing. in the Czech Republic and Slovakia) and is written before the person's name (In Germany, Ing. is used for engineers without an academic degree, obtained after four years of study without scientific research, see below.) In German, the degree is Diplomingenieur and in Finnish, diplomi-insinööri, abbr. DI. The word diplom refers to the thesis written at the end of the studies.

There is also the degree Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) (abbr. Dipl.-Ing (FH)) in Germany, but this is a professional degree in engineering from a German Fachhochschule. It is intermediate in rank between a bachelor's degree and a master's degree and therefore not an engineer's degree in the meaning of this page.

In Belgium, the degree is Burgerlijk Ingenieur or Ingénieur Civil (abbrev. Ir.). In Portugal, the degree is Engenheiro (abbrev. Eng.), and in Spain it is called Ingeniero (Ing). In Greece, the degree is Διπλωματούχος Μηχανικός (diplomatouhos mihanikos) and the abbreviation is Διπλ.-Μηχ..

In the Netherlands, the degree is Ingenieur (abbrev. ir.). Also, ing is used in the Netherlands and in Belgium, but this is a non-academic, professional degree, roughly equivalent to the German Dipl.-Ing (FH).

In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the degree is Civilingeniør/Sivilingeniør/Civilingenjör (regardless of the actual specialty and thus not to be confused with the English civil engineer). This retains the 19th century idea that the "actual" engineers were the military ones.

In France, the degree is Diplôme d'Ingénieur, while the title is Ingénieur diplômé (ID) but is never used before the holder's name. In Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine, the degree is специалист инженер (specialist inzener), a first degree after 5 years of study.

A German-style engineer's degree is considered equivalent to a MSc degree in U.S. or UK and in international context, the holders of the Engineer's degree are authorized to use MSc. However, there has been some debate over whether the Engineers should differentiate themselves from a Master of Science, this degree having become victim of inflation lately. It might also be argued that, because the European high school curriculum covers the topics of the typical U.S. freshman year, the five-year-long engineer's degree is actually the complete equivalent of the U.S. degree.

In France, the Diplôme d'Ingénieur (word for word: Engineer's Degree) can be obtained after five years of engineering studies after the Baccalauréat. Engineering is taught in Ecoles d'Ingénieurs, which are part of the French Grandes écoles famous system. Since the Bologna process, the Diplôme d'Ingénieur is officially considered to be at the level of a European master's degree, though many argue that it is a bit more than a mere master's degree since competitive exams allow only top students to enter the Grandes écoles system. It is often considered as something between MSc and MEng when compared to the U.S. system as it is a blend of strong theoretical knowledge and professional experience.

Romania follows the French system and the engineering degree is called "Diploma de inginer", this being a 5 year degree course equivalent to a Master's degree (MSc/M.Eng). The five year course concludes with a comprehensive set of specialising exams ("examen de diploma"). Marks 9 or 10 are considered exceptional. Some universities award a so called "Diploma de Sub-inginer" which is a 3 year course equivalent to a B.Eng degree.

The Spanish case is practically identical to the French but for the non-existence of Grandes Écoles. Engineer's degrees in Spain traditionally used to last (at least nominally) six years though many of them were reduced to five years relatively recently.

Abolition of the Engineer's degree in Germany

In Germany, the local engineer's degree (Diplom-Ingenieur, a first degree after 5 years of study) will be abolished by 2010, and will be replaced by postgraduate master's degrees (MSc and MEng). This disputed development is part of the German implementation of the Bologna process. However, this decision is favourable for German Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschulen), since the old Diplom-Ingenieur (FH) will be replaced by the same degrees. Therefore, in contrast to the former situation, a degree from a University of Applied Sciences will be equal in rank to the equivalent degree from a traditional German university.

Contrast this decision with Finland, where the two concepts — academic and vocational engineering degree — remain separate, even if the qualification no longer requires one or the other de jure.