Bachelor of Engineering Accreditation Review 2024
As you will know your degree is accredited by Engineering NZ on behalf of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, making your degree a globally recognized qualification. Every few years the degree, all it's majors and the work experience component are audited to ensure the quality of the degree is maintained to an international standard. Our next full review is in 2024. Part of this audit process is to review deliverables and assessments, including deliverables and assessments undertaken for work experience. Those doing the audit treat all documents as confidential and not to be used outside the purpose of auditing the degree as a whole. For the 2024 review of work experience, we will primarily rely on 2023 and early 2024 deliverables. Should this process cause concern or you have questions around the process and the confidentiality of your reports and other deliverables, please contact your work experience coordinator. Very happy to chat. Matt StevensWork Experience Coordinator
Dec 2022
ENZ work experience partial waiver extended to 2023
Most of you will be aware that due to the impact of Covid, Engineering NZ has waived half the 800 hours of work experience required to graduate with a Bachelor of Engineering. The waiver is only for students completing all their studies by the end of 2021. The Council of Engineering Deans, representing all NZ Universities, proposed that ENZ consider extending this waiver given the impacts of Covid are ongoing. For background, other Engineering disciplines are finding it much harder than our discipline to find professional work experience for students. This week ENZ has confirmed they are extending the waiver for students who will complete their studies in 2022 and 2023. They strongly recommend students still obtain 800 hours, however this should not impede a students graduation. In practical terms for the Work Experience program, this means the non-professional hours can be waived (no report, etc needed) for students affected. The remaining 400 hours (as you would expect) still has to be in a professional workplace applying the specialist skills you acquire during your degree. McDonalds won't do, neither is being a summer research assistant or Engineering in another discipline. See the Wiki for the full description of Professional Work. WE Wiki: Professional work, what is it If you have to complete one or more papers in 2024, you will need all 800 hours of work experience. Do not rely on ENZ extending the waiver further as it is unlikely to happen. My recommendation, based on helping students this year (students that will now be breathing a sigh of relief!), is register any non-professional work you get anyway, evidence the hours and complete the report. If circumstances later mean you need to extend your studies beyond 2023, you will then be sorted either way. Very happy to chat further Matt StevensWork Experience Coordinator
Dec 2021
Jobs Report (Quick update)
If you doubt whether there is work when you graduate, Seek today (Jun 2020) has 27 ICT jobs advertised in Central Wellington in the IT junior pay range of up to $60k a year. There are 49 ICT jobs in Central Wellington in the junior pay range of up to $70k a year. When it comes to applying for roles, keep in mind that you are enrolled at the top tier tertiary institution in Wellington. You will be looked on favourably in part because ECS Graduates have a very good reputation and in part because the people you are competing against have an education experience ranging from nothing (self taught), 3 months, one year and two years. Your education sets you up well to impress in the workplace over both the short and long term. Otherwise in a field of 4,000 registered IT students, why did well over half of SoT's (Summer 2019) 229 Wellington internships go to ECS students? (Also see SoT report Summer 2018). Don't rely on efforts to spread fear, uncertainty and doubt; your education and choice of where you study matters. It is far more difficult to claim that ECS students are employed more often, by random chance. Meetups are starting up again. These represent your best opportunity to talk to people one-on-one doing the work you ultimately want to do. Take advantage, they are keen to see new tech people regardless of whether they are 20 year veterans or students. Happy to chat Matt StevensWork Experience Coordinator
Jun 2020
Covid-19 Impacts on the Availability of Professional Work Experience
The Covid-19 virus and associated worldwide lockdown is widely expected to result in a global recession. This means it may be reasonable to assume that the impact on many Engineering businesses may be both uncertain and negative. The Council of Engineering Deans have raised this with Engineering NZ (ENZ), the accreditation body for the Bachelor of Engineering. ENZ after consideration have given universities discretion to reduce the requirement of 800 hours of work experience, to 400 hours of Engineering work for students that will complete their studies before December 2021. In 18 months they will review whether to extend this period.What does this mean?
This in effect will benefit third and fourth year students that expect to complete studies before December 2021. The 400 hours must be 'professional work' within the IT industry. This is defined as "working within an IT Engineering team, exposed to team practices, applying your degree, solving engineering problems, under the hands on guidance and mentoring of experienced industry professionals." Unrelated to the ENZ decision but highly relevant, remote working with NZ based IT teams as a consequence of Covid-19 and lockdowns, will also be accepted.Advice for Second Year BE students
Do not rely on ENZ extending the period for the reduced requirements. They view this very much as a temporary measure due to extraordinary circumstances. Aim to find summer work within the IT industry and recall that we accept other work for your first 400 hours in order to practise the transferable soft skills that are vital in an IT workplace. Mature students can ask for pre-existing work to be recognised for the first 400 hours (a report is still required). Register for Summer of Tech and when Industry Events start up again (watch MeetUp.com) start attending events of interest to build up your network in industry. In a recession, knowing people can give you a significant employment advantage.Advice for Third & Fourth Year students
We do not know all the edge cases yet and we will be figuring this out as we go. If you think you might represent an edge case, get in touch with your WE Coordinator.Edge cases.
Q. What if I need to complete one last paper in 2022?A. Under the ENZ directive, you will need to complete the full 800 hours of work experience. Your WE Coordinator will work with you individually to find a smooth path for meeting the second 400 hour requirement. As always, happy to chat Matt Stevens
Work Experience Coordinator
Apr 2020
Transition from work experience courses to a single multi-year program
The case for using the traditional course structure for the ECS Work Experience Program has diminished. As a consequence we are moving to a multi-year program that will be recognised once on your transcript. If you have enrolled in the old courses, you will still receive passes for those as you complete their requirements. The requirements themselves are not changing, just the way the program is structured. Expect an app to be rolled out over the next few months for beta testing. A quick summary.- Still free - yes
- Still zero points - yes
- Still requires 800 hours of work experience - yes
- 400 of those hours needs to be in an IT workplace, applying your degree under direct industry supervision - yes
- The anticipated time commitment is still under 10 hours a year - yes
Work Experience Coordinator
Mar 2020