8) “What is CPD…?”
(Date of Publication = 19th March, 2013)
You might have heard this word CPD many times and if you want to know what is this CPD ? then this article is specially for you. At the end of this article you will be having complete knowledge about the CPD points, meaning and how to get them etc, If you want to ask any questions you may ask under. CPD stands for Continuing professional development. It may also bee called Continuing Professional Education (CPE). CPD is simply the means by which any person can enhance his knowledge and skills which may or may not be related to his professional career. In order to be a good engineer in this modern era where competition is at its peak, one should be in the urge of getting as much knowledge as he can because there is no end to learning. A man can not stop learning until he is dead. At every stage of his life, he is in the process of learning. This learning process will ultimately result in the enhancement of skills which is the purpose of Continuing Professional Development.
P.E.C & CPD.
Pakistan Engineering Council (P.E.C) under its Act has mandate for introducing and ensuring continued professional development activities among its growing community of engineers and has devised a comprehensive framework titled Professional Development of Engineers (Bye Laws – 2008) approved by the Government of Pakistan. The main objective is to develop competence and ability of engineers for the application of theoretical knowledge to practical situations and to evolve innovative solutions to real life problems while adhering to professional ethics and acquisition of a broader understating of their obligations to society. As per provisions of CPD Bye-laws, from July 2010 on-wards most of Continuing Professional Development activities (courses, training workshops, etc.) may be undertaken by the Professional Engineering Bodies registered with PEC as per provision of Section 16 of PDE Bye-Laws 2008. Until the SRO becomes effective in July 2010, PEC will continue conducting Continuing Professional Development activities/ courses without any credit points. However, after July 2010 on-wards, CPD activities may be undertaken by PEC in view of need/ availability of resource person(s) on a particular subject/field. PEC will continue charging nominal course fee per participant. However, PEBs imparting CPD activities will decide fee on the basis of course type and efforts should be made to charge the fee as minimum as possible. The courses/ Continuing Professional Development activities will be planned by the PEBs according to the specified criteria and guidelines (Section 16 of Bye-Laws). Such bodies will also provide schedule of courses and share verified list of participants with PEC to maintain transparent record of CPD activities and points for all the registered/ professional engineers. PEC Regional Offices will play role of facilitator for the professional bodies in organizing CPD activities.
CPD Points criteria
In order to understand the CPD Points criteria you will have to take a brief look on the document P.E.C CPD Bye-laws and on the page 10 and 11 you will see the Continuing Professional Development points along with certain activities called Categories of Continuing Professional Development. In this tabular data one can easily see if he participates in a conference of two hours, he can get 0.5 Continuing Professional Development points easily. Similarly there are many categories to get CPD points. Don’t Forget to read the Note at the end which limits the categories b,c,d per year, you might be wondering why you need Continuing Professional Development points..? The answer is very simple, In order to be declared a Professional Engineer(P.E), there is a test conducted by P.E.C called Engineering Practice Examination (EPE). In order to be eligible for taking this test one must have certain Continuing Professional Development points described by PEC which are as follows:-
- 5 years of professional experience since registration with PEC till 30th April 2013.
- 9.6 CPD points since 10th July 2010.
In order to get detailed under standing, i will prefer you to read both the documents P.E.C Continuing Professional Development Bye-laws and Continuing Professional Development Guide line Manual.
Thanks
Ubaid Ahmad Mughal
Civil Engineer