The Masters of Engineering Practice: A pathway to registration as a RPEQ.

Abstract

The Master of Engineering Practice program (MEPR) is an innovative University of Southern Queensland (USQ) distance education program accredited by Engineers Australia that enables industry experienced engineering technologists to graduate from the program and be eligible to apply for membership as a Stage 1 Professional Engineer. The Master of Engineering Practice program generally enables students to work full-time, study on-line as a part-time student and use their workplace learning to complete up to 50% of the courses in the program. Students use their workplace learning to demonstrate the achievement of course objectives through Engineering Competency Claims documenting the relevance of their industrial workplace learning experience and associated attributes and capabilities benchmarked against Engineers Australia Professional Engineer Stage 2 Competency Assessment. In 2018, the Public Works and Infrastructure major was introduced as a specialisation within the Master of Engineering Practice program, providing a technologist pathway to registration in Queensland as Registered Professional Engineer Queensland in the Civil (Public Works) area of engineering. This paper summarises the Master of Engineering Practice program aims, objectives, admission requirements, structure and key elements for admission to the program and registration as a Registered Professional Engineer Queensland, by the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia – Queensland Division (IPWEAQ) as an assessment entity for the Board of Professional Engineers Queensland. Keywords: Workplace learning; Registered Professional Engineer; Engineering practice